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The USPTO has rejected Nintendo’s controversial ‘summon character and let it fight’ Pokémon patent, after it was heavily criticized by IP lawyers last year.
In November, the director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ordered a reexamination of the patent after IP lawyers had criticized the U.S. patent system and the USPTO for awarding it.
At the time, IP expert Florian Mueller took to social media to say Nintendo “should never” have received a “summon character and let it fight” patent in the first place, while video game patent lawyer Kirk Sigmon told PC Gamer “these claims were in no way allowable.”
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are currently embroiled in ongoing litigation with Pocketpair’s Palworld in Japan, and patents are at the heart of the lawsuit. This particular patent sums up how Pokémon games work in that you summon Pokémon to battle other Pokémon in the hope of adding them to your collection. But, as was pointed out last year, there are countless other games that use similar mechanics, such as Persona, Digimon, and even Elden Ring, depending upon how the patent is interpreted.
Games fray reported that the USPTO rejected all claims of the patent in question, based on ”prior art” references in the form of published U.S. patent applications. Games fray said two of those earlier patent applications were filed by Nintendo itself, and one each by Konami and Bandai Namco.
It’s worth noting that this rejection is non-final, so there’s a long way to go before Nintendo accepts the decision. It may appeal, for example, which would drag this out even longer. But what will be of most importance is its potential impact on the lawsuit with Pocketpair, which has gone quiet since October last year.
Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC early 2024, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld’s launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated. Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP. It later launched the game on PS5.
After Palworld’s huge launch, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of “ripping off” Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company went down the patent route. They want 5 million yen (approx $32,846) each plus late payment damages, as well as an injunction against Palworld that would block its release.
The case involves three main patents granted in Japan: two related to monster capture and release, and one related to riding characters. All three patents were filed in 2024, after Palworld came out. However, they are actually derived from earlier Nintendo patents dating from 2021. In other words, it seems that once Palworld exploded onto the scene, Nintendo filed divisional patents that were geared to fight specifically against Palworld’s alleged infringement of the original patents.
Since then, Pocketpair has made changes to Palworld’s disputed mechanics. A November 2024 patch, for example, removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pokéball-like Pal Spheres. In May last year, another Palworld update changed how you can glide in the game. At the time, Pocketpair said it was being forced to patch Palworld due the lawsuit.
The case has rumbled on, with Nintendo even rewriting a mount-related patent mid-lawsuit, and arguing that mods should not count as prior art.
All eyes will be on Presiding Judge Motoyuki Nakashima, who leads the patent division of the Tokyo District Court. Meanwhile, Pocketpair has continued to update Palworld as it prepares for its 1.0 launch.
At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March 2025, IGN sat down for an extended conversation with John “Bucky” Buckley, communications director and publishing manager for Palworld developer Pocketpair. We spoke following his talk at the conference, ‘Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.’ During that talk, Buckley went into candid detail about a number of Palworld’s struggles, especially the accusations of it using generative AI and stealing Pokemon’s models for its own Pals. He even commented on Nintendo’s patent infringement lawsuit against the studio, saying it “came as a shock” and was “something that no one even considered.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
