There has been talk for some time now as to whether or not Nintendo could sue Interball worldand these fears were justified. This new lawsuit against Interball world, Pokemonindie competitor, could create serious problems for the studio Pocketpair.
Nintendo has been known to litigate and take on game fans, system modders, YouTubers, hackers, ROM sites, and more. Thanks to this reputation, many fans appeared Interball world expressed concern that Nintendo might find a reason to sue the game due to its design and mechanical similarities to Pokemon series.
Explanation of Nintendo's lawsuit against Palworld
On September 18, Nintendo sued Pocketpair citing this Interball world “infringes several patent rights” (according to the official corporate press release). This is an important element of the case, as there has long been legal precedent that game mechanics cannot be copyrighted (established by cases such as Atari vs. Entertainment World), but they can be patented. The suit seeks an “injunction against infringement” as well as damages for the alleged infringement.
Nintendo patents weapons against Palworld
Many of Nintendo's high-profile legal attacks, such as against fan games such as
Pokemon Uranus
and
AM2R
were based on copyright—expressions of ideas and mechanisms as opposed to those elements themselves.
Writing for GamesIndustry.biz, patent attorney Andrew Welzen said that he would be “surprised” to see Nintendo take the copyright view now, since, while similar, Pals are quite different from Pokemon. However, Nintendo is no stranger to patent lawsuits, with some of the more high-profile cases including a lawsuit against mobile developer Colopl.
Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara narrowed down which patents Nintendo and The Pokemon Company can use in an interview with Yahoo News. Kurihara agrees that copyright is not viable for Nintendo, stating that Pals “comes close, but just shy of it,” but lists 28 possible patents that Nintendo could use.
Specifically, Kurihara calls patent #7545191 a “killer patent.” It's a patent that, simplistically, covers catching Pokemon with a Pokeball. That patent dates from July 2024 and, according to Kurihara, went through an accelerated process to completion.
On the other hand, some experts are less likely to panic. Speaking to Game Rant, patent analyst Florian Müller said that Nintendo will do “some damage in Japan, but probably not outside of Japan.” Muller added about it Interball world “Probably, they are violating it[s] nothing that could stand up to a serious trial,” citing that issued patents could still be “revoked or narrowed” by the Japan Patent Office.
Pocketpair responds to Nintendo's lawsuit
In Pocketpair's Twitter statement on the matter, the studio says the lawsuit will take “significant time” away from the game's development. Pocketpair also “doesn't know,” at least at this point, which specific patents it's intended for.
