Many assumed this would eventually happen, and it has: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Palworld developer Pocketpair, Inc. It’s worth noting that the lawsuit is for infringement of patent rights rather than copyright. The lawsuit claims that Palworld infringes multiple patent rights, and Nintendo is seeking compensation for damages.
Palworld was released into Early Access in January and quickly became one of the most played games on Steam, reaching millions of players within days. We spent some time in the game and found it an entertaining experience, but definitely noticed the inspiration from the Pokémon franchise, as did everyone else. While the hype has died down for the crafting survival game, Palworld remains consistently in the top 100 on Steam’s concurrent players list.
You can read Nintendo’s full statement below.
Filing Lawsuit for Infringement of Patent Rights against Pocketpair, Inc.
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 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.
