Sept 18, 2024 - Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, citing multiple instances of patent infringement.
“Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, “Nintendo” hereafter), together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, “Defendant” hereafter) on September 18, 2024.
This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” Nintendo states.
Nintendo's statement continues, “Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
This lawsuit should come as no surprise, as they released a different statement earlier this year, vowing to investigate allegations of infringement by the Palworld developer.
Palworld released in early access this January, becoming an instant success. On Steam, it broke records for concurrent players, landing with a high of 2,101,867 - currently third all-time. Despite the success, allegations of improper use were levied by Pokémon fans shortly after release, with many accusing Pocketpair of lifting assets directly from Pokémon games.
Pocketpair has since responded to Nintendo's lawsuit, indicating they are unaware of which specific patents Nintendo is alleging they infringed upon. Pocketpair has also expressed their disappointment in having to deal with the lawsuit.
“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas,” Pocketpair continues, ”We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.”
It is currently unknown which patents Nintendo believes Pocketpair violated with Palworld, but we'll keep an eye on it as the story evolves.
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