Nintendo vs. Palworld Lawsuit

Overview

Nintendo vs. Palworld Lawsuit refers to Nintendo's patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developers PocketPair. News of the lawsuit confirmed many gamers' suspicions that Nintendo would bring legal action against Palworld due to the video game's similarities to the Pokémon franchise. However, Nintendo has stated its lawsuit is for "patent infringement," not copyright, leading to speculation about how the lawsuit will develop. While initial online discourse about Nintendo possibly suing PocketPair emerged in early 2024 following Palworld's release, discussions about the controversy spread significantly in September 2024 after Nintendo announced the patent infringement lawsuit.

Background

When Palworld was released in January 2024, numerous gamers suspected that Nintendo, an infamously litigious company, would likely bring legal action against Palworld developers PocketPair due to multiple "Pals" having similar designs to preexisting Pokémon. Shortly after Palworld's release, The Pokémon Company stated in January 2024 that it was "investigating any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon." This seemed to confirm that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company were prepping legal action against Palworld.

On September 18th, 2024, Nintendo then announced that it had filed a "patent infringement lawsuit" against PocketPair,^[1] writing, "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."

This announcement was notably posted to the company's official X / Twitter account that same day, receiving over 1.7 million views, 3,000 likes, 1,400 retweets and 430 replies in one day.

Developments

On September 19th, 2024, PocketPair responded to the lawsuit in a Twitter post,^[2] writing, "At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details." The post gained over 4,700 retweets and 32,000 likes in a matter of hours (full statement shown below).

Online, gamers were split on how to take the news, with some believing Palworld was guilty of infringing on the Pokémon IP while others felt Nintendo was being overly litigious.

For example, in the former camp, Twitter user @cricketadam^[3] wrote on September 18th that Palworld had clearly knocked off Pokémon designs, gaining over 100 retweets and 550 likes in one day.

In the latter cap, Twitter user @DJBawlzy^[4] wrote on September 18th that Palworld posed no threat to the Pokémon IP, gaining over 110 retweets and 795 likes in one day.

There has been some speculation as to what "patent" Nintendo owned that Palworld may have violated. Some speculated that Palworld may have violated a patent Nintendo had on monster-catching mechanics,^[5] though that has not been clarified as of September 19th, 2024 (Nintendo's catching mechanic patent shown below).

Search Interest

External References