Palworld’s unexpected explosion of fame has been one of the recurring narratives of 2024 – and so has been its obvious inspirations. In fact, back in January, amid piles of accusations of plagiarism and copyright theft, Nintendo announced that it planned to “investigate and take any appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.” But as of June, Palworld’s Pocketpair Games said Nintendo hadn’t served it with a lawsuit (or anything else).
Well, that’s no longer the case. Last night, Nintendo announced that it’s filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair in Japan. “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 says.
Pocketpair has replied publicly with a longer memo, acknowledging the lawsuit but saying it doesn’t have full details yet.
“We are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details,” says the statement. “It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.”
Regarding the Lawsuit
Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement.
We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.
At this moment, we are unaware…
— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) September 19, 2024
