US Patent Office Rejects Nintendo Patent Involving Summoning Characters to Fight
Anime News Network • • technology
Key Points:
- The USPTO has rejected all claims of Nintendo's Pokémon patent US12403397 related to summoning characters in battle, citing prior art from Konami (2002) and Nintendo (2019); however, the rejection is not final and Nintendo may appeal.
- Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair in September 2024, seeking an injunction and compensation of 5 million yen plus damages.
- The lawsuit targets three patents involving gameplay mechanics: aiming objects to initiate combat, catching creatures in the field, and riding creatures.
- Pocketpair made gameplay changes in Palworld patches (v0.3.11 and v0.5.5) to address the lawsuit, removing the ability to summon Pals by throwing spheres and altering gliding mechanics, while continuing to dispute the infringement claims.
- Palworld, launched on Steam Early Access in January 2024, quickly gained 25 million users, and Pocketpair announced a spinoff game, Palworld: Palfarm, set for multi-language PC release.
