Nintendo and Pokémon Co. sue Palworld for patent infringement

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, for patent infringement.

In response, Pocketpair has said that it is “unaware” of the patents it is accused of infringing and will begin its own legal proceeding to investigate.

Late on Wednesday, Nintendo issued a joint press release with The Pokémon Company (which it co-owns) saying it had filed suit against Pocketpair in the Tokyo District Court seeking injunction and compensation “on the grounds that Palworld… infringes multiple patent rights.”

“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years,” the company added.

Responding on Thursday, Pocketpair, a Tokyo-based indie studi0, said it was “unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.”

“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,” Pocketpair said, in a hint that it intends to fight Nintendo’s suit, and cast itself as David in a battle against a game industry Goliath.

Palworld involves capturing and collecting Pals, creatures that many feel bear a strong resemblance to Pokémon. Palworld also draws from many other games and genres, including base-building and survival games like Minecraft and Valheim. On its release in January 2024, Palworld faced accusations of plagiarism online, after which The Pokémon Company said it would investigate and “take appropriate measures” if it felt its intellectual property rights had been infringed.

Here’s the full text of Nintendo’s statement:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, “Nintendo” hereafter), together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, “Defendant” hereafter) on September 18, 2024.

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 will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.

And here’s Pocketpair’s response in full:

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 of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.

Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.

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.

As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.