Pocketpair shares details of Palworld lawsuit by Nintendo, The Pokémon Company
Palworld developer Pocketpair has shared details of the patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in September, shedding light on the plaintiffs’ claims. The two companies are demanding a ban on Palworld, a survival game featuring monsters with alleged similarities to the creatures from the Pokémon franchise. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are also seeking damages from Pocketpair in the amount of over JPY 5 million (approximately Rs. 27.7 lakh).
Nintendo, The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction and damages
Pocketpair revealed the details of the Palworld lawsuit on Friday, listing three specific patents that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company claim the developer has infringed.
“The plaintiffs allege that ‘Palworld’, released by us on January 19, 2024, infringes the following three patents of the plaintiffs, and seek an injunction from the game and compensation for a portion of the damages incurred between the date of registration of the patents and the date of filing of this lawsuit,” the developer said in a after on its website.
The target patent portion of the lawsuit includes patent no. 7545191, 7493117 and 7528390. According to the post, all three patents were filed and registered after Palworld’s launch on January 19, 2024.
According to the developer, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction against Palworld and are each seeking payment of JPY 5 million plus damages for late payment. “We will continue to defend our position in this matter through future legal proceedings,” Pocketpair said.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Palworld maker in September. “It is really unfortunate that because of this lawsuit we will have to spend a lot of time on matters that have nothing to do with game development,” Pocketpair said in its response at the time.
Palworld became a breakout hit on Steam and Xbox when it launched in January, but faced accusations of plagiarism over its creature designs. The survival game features Pokémon-style animals, or Pals, that can be captured and tamed for battle, traversal, and base-building in the game’s open world, attracting the nickname “Pokémon with guns.”
Following the game’s launch, The Pokémon Company, which controls Pokémon’s intellectual property rights, said it planned to investigate any alleged cases of copyright infringement in the newly released game. “We have not authorized the use of any Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate action to address any actions that infringe the intellectual property rights relating to the Pokémon,” the company said.
