Palworld developer Pocketpair shared details of a patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in September, clarifying the plaintiffs’ demands. The two companies are seeking an injunction against Palworld, a survival game that features monsters that allegedly bear similarities to creatures from the Pokémon series. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are also seeking compensation of more than 5 million yen (approximately Rs. 2.77 crore) from Pocketpair.
Nintendo, Pokémon Company seek injunction, damages
Pocketpair revealed details of Palworld’s lawsuit on Friday, listing three specific patents that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company claim the developer has infringed on.
“The plaintiff claims that our release of Palworld on January 19, 2024, infringes the following three patents held by the plaintiff, and is seeking an injunction against the game and partial compensation for losses incurred between the date of patent registration and the date of filing of the lawsuit,” the developer said in a post on its website.
The subject patents of this lawsuit include patent numbers: 7545191, 7493117 and 7528390. The post stated that these three patents were applied for and registered after the launch of Palworld on January 19, 2024.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction against Palworld and are seeking 5 million yen each as well as damages for late payments, according to the developers. “We will continue to defend our position in this case through future legal proceedings,” Pocketpair said.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the makers of Palworld in September. “It is truly unfortunate that as a result of this lawsuit we will be forced to allocate a significant amount of our time to matters unrelated to game development,” Pocketpair said in response at the time.
Palworld was a hit on Steam and Xbox after launching in January, but faced plagiarism accusations for its creature designs. The survival game features Pokémon-style animals (or companions) that can be captured and tamed for combat, traversal, and base-building in the game’s open world, earning it the nickname “Pokémon with a Gun.”
After the game’s launch, The Pokémon Company, which manages Pokémon’s intellectual property, said it intended to investigate alleged copyright infringement in newly released games. “We have not granted any license to use Pokémon intellectual property or assets in the game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate steps to address any infringement of Pokémon-related intellectual property rights,” the company said.
