Why Pokémon Sued PalWorld over Patents, Not Copyright

So we did a video ( • Why Pokémon Didn't Sue... ) about how PalWorld is safe from copyright and trademark lawsuits.
Then Nintendo and the Pokemon Company sued Palworld over patent infringement instead.
Join us on an amazing adventure as Kotor attempts to dig his way up out of this hole, because what he said was correct, and the fact that PalWorld's in trouble over patents of all things is an indication of just how little Nintendo has against Pocket Pair from a copyright perspective.
Why Pokémon Didn't Sue PalWorld Over Copyright: • Why Pokémon Didn't Sue...
Pokémon Just Sued A Guy Who Doesn't Exist: • Pokémon Just Sued A Gu...
Music by Holizna

[@VideoGameStoryTime]

Why Pokémon Didn't Sue PalWorld Over Copyright: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6W8eaJtmK57Z8k Pokémon Just Sued A Guy Who Doesn't Exist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKnXaqCgiL-Kprs

[@Cliffordlonghead]

hhh

[@Cliffordlonghead]

First

[@Cliffordlonghead]

AAwesome video

[@Cliffordlonghead]

hi

[@p4rm3s34n]

To the commentors who are getting angry on behalf of palworld's developer... congratulations, you've fallen for, and are now just defending... ragebait. The entire reason why the game is popular- is just because the game is extremely effective, extremely intentional ragebait. I would be mad too. "Boo hoo, I don't care if an indie dev attacks the multimillionaire corporation!" The Palworld devs are also trying to steal ideas from hollow knight, a game by an ACTUAL indie dev. Indie dev is a title of honor, the palworld devs don't deserve that.

[@itsasecrettoeverybody]

Remember why every racing game had to switch views instantly? Because Sega had the patent over smooth camera transitions in racing games. 😂

[@LuigiSantoriniXXX16]

LMAO WTF 😂

[@someonehere9778]

Their original intention was to patent over any camera transition in racing games. It's a good thing they couldn't do that.

[@HeavenLeahSky]

Nope but I'm not surprised

[@goodfortunetoyou]

imo, this vague patent nonsense *should* result in the patents being unenforceable in court. They shouldn't be granted in the first place, because they're not specific enough to replicate.

[@logicalfundy]

The patent system needs an overhaul, and the patent office needs more funding.

[@snintendog]

@@logicalfundy nah patents are just worthless int the first place they hand them out like candy. FFS TPC owns the concept of Vending machines not a specific type just VENDING MACHINES.

[@novaguy7]

The EU just throws out software patent cases. Look at the oceanhorn games. They are very similar to Zelda and the devs happen to be from Finland. If I was a gamedev, i would be terrified of patents.

[@logicalfundy]

@@snintendog All the more reason to reform patents, as stupid stuff is getting patented.

[@nathapholsethameteekul7718]

I could be wrong but either that will happen or it will get enforced because Pocket Pair cannot keep up with legal expense game and lose the case.

[@baronvonslambert]

Patents should be required to be super specific such that only a direct copy is in violation. That's my $.02.

[@xathridtech727]

It really comes down to them not being experts in every field. They may have to approve medicine one moment and the next they are being asked hey I have this really unique idea it 10 mins of jargon related to specific industry. They may put in a good faith effort to make sure it's not taken but it's so dense and has so much filler it's impossible. Nintendo takes 2 paragraphs just to explain modern controllers use 2 sticks to aim. The patent isn't even for aiming

[@mariokarter13]

Pre-order Pokéman: Unpatented Version today.

[@savaget2058]

That is what copyright is though, patents are for processes.

[@VixYW]

Yes. But who is going to push for that?

[@somederp8915]

That plus limited to like 3 or at most 5 years for games. Enough to get a studio a head start, but still allowing systems to be innovated upon. It's such a waste to only have the Nemesis system in 2, at most 3 games and then the patent is dormant again...

[@JeannieLove]

Before WB and the Nemesis system, Bandai-Namco Patented the Load Screen Minigame. So if you ever wondered why other companies didn't do it, that's why.

[@dimensiondetective]

Fortunately if they aren’t renewed in time, then patents expire after 20 years. And for the patent of loading screen mini-game, patent lasted from 1995 to 2015. And in the year that it did expire, Splatoon released with a mini-game to play while waiting for matches. That feels like the only notable example though, and seeing others in future is unlikely when most recent consoles aim to remove load screens entirely.

[@effyvanity]

@@dimensiondetective I guess technically Dota 2 also had a recipe matching minigame to play while waiting for matches to pop around that same time? I don't know if it would count since it's not a loading screen technically

[@DivisorOfZero]

There is also a patent on the sanity system from the Eternal Darkness game which really locked out ingenuity from other developers as Silicon Knights went out of business and Nintendo picked up their IP and has done jack all with it.

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

That first patent should get thrown out. Due to its vagueness it could be applied on anything from digital cameras to scanners.

[@RadeticDaniel]

Meshing together and recombining images... yeah, let's get every camera filter with animated stickers, every AR applications and even clippy from Microsoft Office running over power point to tell you about a specific button you just open 😂

[@Ceece20]

Thing is, if it is accepted by the patent office (which it did), that is at least grounds for continuing the lawsuit. The question of whether the patent is too vague and must be invalidated is a *separate* question. Trust me that courts don't like to handle this sort of question, so it is typically handled by the patent courts, which is a separate court and must be filed by the defendants if the judgement goes against them. Yes, this is expensive.

[@Diegothefox-q6s]

not to mention the fact it was filed this year and only after nintendo started getting angry that palword was getting popular

[@bloboblobo]

and any inventory system

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

@@Diegothefox-q6s Palworld showed that Nintendo was phoning it in with the Pokemon games.

[@baddragonite]

Sadly guys we can't have Dragon Ball Z anymore, turns out DC comics decided to patent writing about the idea of a guy coming from space after his planet was destroyed who grows up to fight bad guys

[@kaptainkibiroproductions45]

unless Nintendo is planning on buying Studio Wildcard they have about as much grounds to sue Palworld over the concept of Open World Monster-Taming Survival Games as my nutsack. because Palworld takes far FAAAAAAAAAR more directly from Ark Survival Evolved than Pokémon as far as actual gameplay and everything else. Nintendo NEEEEEEEEDS to lose this lawsuit, more than any other one in history.

[@iam18bitch2]

Bringing up ARK is interesting. They have Cryopods that function almost like pokeballs. Granted, you have to tame a creature normally first, cant capture it with one, but the part about throwing object to release thing that then fights other thing is the same.

[@glenfoxh]

Will not keep them from trying though. Mostly if they feel there is money to be had, if they do somehow win.

[@RenSako]

Oh, so now that they're being sued it's no longer actually competition to Pokemon. Got it.

[@kaptainkibiroproductions45]

@@RenSako I never said it *wasn't* competition to Pokèmon it very much so is. I said they stole a lot more from Ark than Pokemon which as someone who's been addicted to Ark for all 10 years, I can blatantly tell they stole SO much more from Ark than Pokèmon from a gameplay standpoint.

[@pikarret5048]

@@kaptainkibiroproductions45 That might actually get the developers of Ark to go after them too if you are correct. I noticed their animation for throwing the balls is almost the same as from Legends Arceus and also looks like stuff from BOTW. I don't believe these Patents are just from pokemon but other nintendo games too.

[@darkmetal2412]

Patent for media should 100 percent go away. Same for life savings medicine patent but that's a whole conversation i don't feel like fighting about now

[@marfit77]

technically it isn't media being patented (Nintendo can't patent pokemon designs nor the Franchise as a whole that's copyright) but some obscure game mechanic or design that they decided to hold a deathgrip over. but patenting game mechanics definitely should definitely be removed.

[@cleeiii357]

I hope Palworld wins. I dont even play Palworld.

[@tyujg7495.]

Same lol

[@PlebNC]

Same. Vague patents are very anti-competition and anti-consumer. Just look at the mediocrity Pokemon games these days are compared to Palworld at least trying to be different in some way.

[@lazy_guy_2525]

You really should it's a great game. Way better than the modern Pokémon games

[@Silryane18]

Same... this is over reaching imo for nintendo... I love their games, hate the company itself. They are too greedy, and tends to be bullies in the market. As I said over reaching.... they are trying to find SOMETHING to bicker over legally and took 3 years and backing of other platforms before nintendo felt "threatened"

[@ClamChowder95]

​@@lazy_guy_2525 modern Pokemon being mediocre does not mean PalWorld isn't mediocre itself. Its popularity hinged entirely on a demographic that wanted something like Pokemon that was available on non-Nintedo platforms.

[@nahuelpablo6031]

Honestly nintendo not only should lose, they should be properly fined for trying to crush competitors with legal loopholes.

[@bossbrozork3022]

They will not lose this at all.

[@chrisk6637]

​@@bossbrozork3022when you have money:

[@zoekittenxvx5789]

YES! I completely agree because they are not allowing people to compete with them, I get people do not like Palworld but it is a competitor, Nintendo needs to get more to up their own games.

[@Kkubey]

We have two ways to go on about these issues: - Abandon the concept of ownership, copyright and patents entirely, everyone can use and change everything they wish. Art or inventions of any kind. - Respect the people who put efforts of any kind into something and let them keep the right to decide who is using their work and the conditions.

[@D-hero1]

​@@chrisk6637they literally deserved to lose this is like saying if my character can jump Mario that no other character is allowed to jump in a video game outside Nintendo there are plenty of Pokemon clones out there Palworld is the only one that have seen to make some money what's next are we going to see blizzard Microsoft go after Disney rivals

[@g.mxanthis7575]

I swear to God, if GF succeeds in the lawsuit and then releases Pokémon LZA in a poor state just like all these years, I will stop buying their products

[@harveycustodio2625]

Wring Group... GF is inky the Developer of Pokemon... TPC us the one running to Sue Palworld... they do own the License...

[@AlbinoMothDragon]

You should stop already then, you know they are going to put in minimum effort

[@julianx2rl]

. . . Wow* I'm sure they'll be frightened to know that. Like, what you're saying, basically, is that you had every intention of buying LZA despite* the state of Scarlet/Violet. In fact, assuming that you did buy that game, bravo! You sure showed them.

[@number3766]

They're probably doing this BECAUSE legends ZA is gonna be terrible. Nintendo and gamefreak are probably still screwing their devs with minimal resources and unattainable release window like they have since X/Y (ORAS had 9 months of active development as opposed to three years the older games used to have)That it will somehow be an even more unoptimized Bethezda game without modding.

[@number3766]

@@harveycustodio2625Nintendo owns all of above. Creatures is owned by Nintendo as it was formed from Ape studios which Nintendo owns and whose CEO was part of Nintendo Executive Management. The head of Gamefreak is an executive at NINTENDO and works directly for them in addition to owning a minority stake in Gamefreak. It's Nintendo. It always has been. Follow the money and see where it goes.

[@syyndev2161]

What Nintendo wants is to dry up small indie company on legal fees until they buckle up and gave up.

[@Helios134]

This is what I was thinking, as they are probably releasing on consoles soon. Odd timings on all this to not be deliberate on Nintendos part. IMHO.

[@NicEeEe843]

We don’t even know which patents, maybe they have an argument why are we jumping to conclusions? We don’t know which patents they’re going after, we will learn more if they have a case or not eventually

[@Americanbadashh]

The company is heavily invested in AI, and crypto. They may be hard to dry up.

[@vyse4907]

Ah yes, the small indie that has over 100 employees by now and raked in several hundred millions. The typical indie dev.

[@TalyTea]

They arent really indie anymore or at least a very rich indie company now, palworld has made tons think nintendo is a bit too late for that plan. They patented monster catching in japan i guess or the idea of catching monsters in a field. it recently went through in like august so it may not have much standing but these are japanese patents and laws so.

[@zariarogers2846]

This honestly made me REALLY hate Nintendo and this could be a huge problem in the gaming industry if they suddenly take a monopoly on monster taming. Edit: I am aware they are currently going after the specific patent of throwing a ball to catch something, but if you read other ones they have, some of them are super vague and include things like vague mount mechanics which can also go outside of the monster taming games.

[@megawill04]

They aren’t gonna monopolize the monster taming genre. You still have great games that avoided being too much like Pokémon like cassette beast, digimon, dragon quest monsters, tem tems, etc….

[@ChristopherFerguson]

This is really about "Pokémon with guns". They leaned into that marketing and Nintendo/TPCI doesn't want their brand associated with such a kid-unfriendly message. Ultimately I don't think they intend to finish the lawsuit and have precedent set. I think they're aiming to force Palworld Devs to settle.

[@xxJing]

They can't monopolize monster taming. Dragon Quest Monsters, Shin Megami Tensei, and Digimon exist and they mostly predate pokemon. Rather, I think what they are suing over is actually more the specifics surrounding using a ball to capture monsters. Which for the most part, they are the only product to have done that before Palworld. So they may actually have a case.

[@WakoDoodle]

@@ChristopherFerguson I find that ironic since in the original tv series there were 2 episodes with weapons. 1. has an old lady firing a bazooka at a giant tentacruel (the same tentacruel in the global into that destroys a building btw) 2. is the safari zone episode where the safari owner points a guy at ash and his friends (who are kids), then team rocket, then fires it at team rocket; who then take said gun and point it at him and ash and his friends. Granted pokemon wants to pretend this never happened; like how the slot machines in gen 1 games is replaced or gone since gambling isn't for kids (although being around for the early 2000's kids is kinda weird) but regardless of what they say or do, it did happen. It means they themselves have done it. Thing is, monsters with guns isn't new. Digimon literally has loads of guns and even deputymon is a gun monster who wields 2 guns. If that was the problem Digimon would be hit themselves as well. Which is akward since they are younger than pokemon; but are a spinoff of tamagotchi which is older than pokemon. So why do I bring them up? Well if Nintendo wins this patent, everyone is affected; those I mentioned included. This also means they will pick a fight with dragon quest, a game that did monster capturing before pokemon ever did it; so if nintendo can do it, so can they. Who are under Square Enix who aren't exactly new around this legal stuff; they have a whole lot of money there too so Nintendo might actually lose to them.

[@lucyla9947]

​@@megawill04 Palworld isn't too much like Pokemon, despite the similarity between Pals and Pokemon in design, the Core Gameplay loop is actually quite different to Pokemon and is more similar to survival games than monster fighters.

[@larrylaffer3246]

By Nintendo's Logic that would mean David Crane would be able to sue them over the Mario Patents because technically speaking his game Pitfall 2: The Lost Caverns "Which came out in 1984 for the Atari 2600" had beat Super Mario Bros to the punch for things like scrolling screens and collectable power ups.

[@DigiRangerScott]

You don’t know what their logic is

[@PogGamerMan]

Sadly even if they did want to, I think statutes of limitations would prevent him from doing so at this point. But I agree with your point

[@onlylettersand0to9]

Pitfall 2 contains no collectable power ups. There are items that grant points, checkpoints, and balloons that can be grabbed to fly in one specific location until the balloon inevitably hits an object, but no power ups.

[@RG-Zeldaplayer]

Did they specifically patent those mechanics?

[@larrylaffer3246]

@@RG-Zeldaplayer Maybe, but even so you'd think Nintendo wouldn't be able to enforce their will much like King wasn't able to do awhile back either when they decided that they had the exclusive right to make Match 3 Puzzle Games with Candy and/or Crush in them.

[@rd-um4sp]

as if the Nemesis patent wasn't bad enough. Moral of the story is that "Nintendo" and "can't sue" cannot go in the same phrase. They'll find a way. (as a side note, the large corporation tactics are not exclusive to copyright. A bank sued me, knowing they were in the wrong and knowing that I did not have the resources to fight them for as long as they could keep up pushing the lawsuit. 10 years. And the cost of their interns to keep pushing it was probably higher than what they're asking for)

[@LowbrowDeluxe]

The Nemesis system patent still pisses me off. honestly a fun and interesting, and innovative, concept that will now never be used in any other game for decades.

[@RrraverCrow]

What are they gonna sue over next? Temtem?

[@TheAkuman27]

They don't have a problem with Temtem, they even sell it on switch.

[@RrraverCrow]

@@TheAkuman27 yeah but they’re suing pocketpair over the same things that are in temtem. Or nexomon. Or cassette beasts. Or world of final fantasy.

[@TheAkuman27]

@@RrraverCrow I think they just don't like Pocketpair and are using patents as an excuse.

[@ChristopherFerguson]

Pokémon with Guns. That's why. They don't want their brand for kids to be associated with a kid-unfriendly topic. Temtem isn't Pokémon with guns. So it's fine.

[@gaze1ngm0rph1c4]

Don’t forget Coromon

[@JJ_R]

The only mistake made was believing Nintendo and/or TPC to _not_ be greedy/petty enough to find *any* avenue to sue Palworld over.

[@VideoGameStoryTime]

💯

[@Cliffordlonghead]

@@VideoGameStoryTime hi

[@Cliffordlonghead]

@@VideoGameStoryTime hiii

[@lucin_4]

they stole assets tho didnt they?

[@FriskyD.]

​@@lucin_4no.

[@RedEyesBlackKnight]

Public opinion on playstation is at an all time low, and all Nintendo needed to do to single handedly dominate the upcoming console generation was just to not be a-holes.......... .....and ofcourse they're choosing to be a-holes

[@DigiRangerScott]

@@RedEyesBlackKnight Do you have evidence of your claim?

[@snintendog]

@@DigiRangerScott sony is VERY HATED CONCORD PS5PRO. Do ineed to go one beyond the GIANT BIG EFFUPS?

[@RenSako]

How are they being assholes? Pretty sure stealing assets is being an asshole, if anything.

[@DigiRangerScott]

@@snintendog What nonsense are you spewing

[@schikey2076]

@@RenSako this is not about stealing assets... ffs, i swear people coming here just have awful attention span and doesnt watch this video at all.

[@mr.t107]

SMT came out before Pokemon if we are being this petty. Maybe Sega Atlus should send some lawyers to Nintendo

[@maxuwl]

They need to own the patents not to be the first

[@the_mogens4096]

If they win this it would be stupid, They would have to demand Digimon and others series for the creature Collector theme, just because they made Pokemon they can't just cancel other games inspired by it, it's a whole Genre on it's own.

[@DigiRangerScott]

You think it’s about creature collecting because you’re stupid

[@icarue993]

Digimon (Story) works very differently from Pokemon and Palworld. You scan Digimon, you capture Pokemon. You need to encounter multiple Digimon to scan then and reproduce them in your base, which is very different from Pokemon and Palworld. In them you have to beat the mon up and then throw a ball. What is similar: -Storage and party size (all 3 games have it so you can only get up to 6 mons. And you can store them in a digital storage). However a similarity Pokemon and Palworld Share is that when you capture a 7th mon, it goes into your storage... but Persona 4-5 have a similar system. - As mentioned before: beat to catch is similar between Palworld and Pokemon that no other big game have. In Persona you talk to them, in Digimon you scan them. The only others that imitate the system are small ones like Temtem and Nexomon. So it can be that they are small, or that they are next on the chopping block. It would be interesting comparing and constrasting what Palworld did that Digimon or Persona (or other AAA monster catchers) have/haven't done

[@ZeroTaichi]

Digimon was being developed even before Pokemon, but when it got released pokemon was already out, so they couldn't demand digimon when it came out.

[@WakoDoodle]

@@icarue993 Actually Digimon RPG / Battle is a digimon mmorpg where you have to capture them with net; scanning in that game is only for a digidex to tell you where they are. The reason I bring this up is, Digimon likes trying a wide variety of games, so although digimon story doesn't use the same capture system; others may do. I only played a few so far though, but I fear that even just 1 digimon game with said mechanic will give nintendo enough reason to take digimon down; regardless if the others don't. I could be wrong, but I fear Nintendo winning this will affect everyone.

[@n.k.central8279]

Its too soon to assume the patent is over the monster catcher genre as a whole there could be certain systems or other specific mechanics that could be what nintendo go after

[@Mugiwara2k]

Never underestimate Nintendo’s pettiness and eagerness to be a bully. They have a rich history of using lawsuits and DMCA’s to antagonize and force others into submission when they see something they don’t like. They’ve done with big corporations and even minor fan projects that don’t impact or effect their sales or company in any way. They know they have endless resources to batter people in court, even if their legal basis is a joke, so they can afford a war of attrition that small companies/individuals can’t. The developers at Nintendo are top notch and their products are great, but the company itself and the tactics they use are complete and utter garbage.

[@Rikika333]

Feels like cases like this all the legal costs should be covered by the bigger company to avoid lawfare and wasting the legal system's time.

[@Blackcloud327]

Just like nintendo doesn't allow people to have super smash turnaments

[@Bothrops_Asper_89]

@@Blackcloud327 Or when they were after pubs that were holding nights for people to play Pokemon Go in 2016.

[@schikey2076]

i dont like the game but the CEO's of PocketPair is right on what he said about this lawsuit (something about not being aware on what patent they actually "infringed") This game was revealed to the public three years before. If Nintendo had an issue with this, they could already struck them down three years ago... only for Nintendo to strike them down now like this (epsecially when its about a vaguely described patent)... its pretty devious to be honest. My theory is this, I feel like the reason why TPC (The Pokemon Company) feels threatened to take action now is because of Sony. Sony did announce that they are teaming up with PocketPair to help with expanding the IP other than the games (a.k.a merchandising and advertising) and that can affect TPC. (You have to remember that Pokemon's main income comes from merchandise (Anime, Toys and Cards), not their games) Imagine an adult buying a Palworld plushie for their kids, thinking that its a Pokemon plushie hahaha.

[@iriswav7379]

Palworld TCG when

[@TheFinalChapters]

That would be a trademark issue. It has nothing to do with patents.

[@BlueEyedVibeChecker]

Tamagotchi did merch for years and released the same year as Pokémon, that's not it.

[@KitoBallard]

Digimon would like to have a word XD

[@menosay1912]

@@TheFinalChapters It is not about the trademarks, it is about Pocket Pair potentially taking a market from Pokemon with Sony's power behind them, and Pokemon going after what they think they can win with.

[@JohnyX8881]

Pokemon company, spend more money on development of your garbage-quality tier games and less on your lawyers.

[@RenSako]

Palworld, make your own models and have your own ideas.

[@nullpoint3346]

@@RenSako A suggestion, come up with an idea, then see if someone else has already come up with that idea. Come back to me when you find one that nobody else has come up with and I might have a publisher by then.

[@Altar54321]

@@RenSako Pokemon ripping off dragon quest monster designs and taking mechanics, such as multi path evolution from digimon is fine though?

[@THEWUNDERBARGAMING]

@@RenSako so, a few things about this, because I just can't help but point these out: 1. stealing models from a game is, believe it or not, NOT EASY. we don't even know if the pokemon models would be compatible with whatever modeling engine palworld is using, and it has been debunked multiple times. 2. if you look any deeper than the models, you'll quickly start to notice that pretty well all of the palworld characters have their own ideas, and are just deriving appearance from pokemon. 3. despite what many companies claim, FAIR USE IS A THING THAT EXISTS. 4. ideas cannot be copyrighted and almost everything you could think of has probably been done before. come back with definitive proof of your claim or don't come back at all.

[@stick6969]

​@@THEWUNDERBARGAMING your point #1 is very uneducated on how modeling works

[@owencole2406]

It’s just like Lego and mega construx, legos patent expired so mega blox was made.

[@hgmd3284]

why did they not specify the patents? is this youtube copyrights system all over again?

[@MilkJugA_]

they dont have to disclose that to us, but obviously its named in the lawsuit

[@kazoorion7993]

Not even PocketPair knows what patents they specifically "infringed"

[@snintendog]

@@MilkJugA_ they HAVE to disclose that to Poket pair and even witht he papers it doesnt include the infringment. This is just Lawfare.

[@Tm_Slink]

@@kazoorion7993 Yeah no... That's PocketPair pulling a "I don't even know that person!" after being found sleeping with said person. I realize japanese law is different from American Law... but the patents would HAVE to be included in the original filing otherwise the court could not determine if the case was worth listening to, or dismissed instantly. Also PocketPair would HAVE to have been told which patents are being infringed in order to start building a defense.

[@kazoorion7993]

@@Tm_Slink And exactly what are you basing on in order to come up with that conclution? Because in their discord, they already stated they don't even know the kind of patent Nintendo would even sue for them and considering that Nintendo owns many patents that are actually illegal in Japan, it wouldn't be surprized if this would be another one, specially when their lawsuit was because of the high number of players Palworld had, hence why they didn't hunt other games like Yokai Watch, Nexomon, Temtem, etc.

[@James2210]

Doesn't really matter here whether Nintendo has a case or not. This lawsuit will cripple Pocket Pair, and they know it. As a wise man once said, we have a legal system, not a justice system.

[@Americanbadashh]

I'm guessing these patents will have more to do with UX elements, than traditional monster catching mechanics.

[@aoihitori]

How Nintendo improve their games? Sue the Competitors. Then produce the same thing again.

[@Your_LocalWizard]

I've never really liked patents in the first place, it just seems like a perfect way to stifle your own industry. If your competitiors can do something better than you can they should be able to. This applies to way more than just video games, by the way, I also think it's stupid that you can file patents for food items, like Coke, or even medical items, like coke.

[@silasrogan241]

Completely agree. Patents are deeply unethical. I see the case for royalties and credits, but patents are the reason medical corporations gatekeep life saving medications for profits or that we can’t have inventions building more organically of each other. You have to build the same damn thing, with a different method, which may or may not be better, just to finally add the improvements you want on to of it. So much time wasted.

[@schikey2076]

@@silasrogan241 seeing what Patents done to the medical industry made me hate patents in the first place... the moment that one person finds out a solution and cure that can help humanity's recovery, only to be struck down by legal fees and cash because some process and part of it has been patented by one rich dork...

[@Tuxfanturnip]

Patents originated to prevent industries from taking enforcement of trade secrets into their own hands and guarantee that inventions will eventually become free to use, but the system has way too many loopholes that allow companies to exercise an indefinite stranglehold on entire industries.

[@mrnygren2]

So that's why there are no other companies trying the Total War formula.

[@jer1776]

Patents should last no more than 8 years. Thats plenty of time to create a product, start or finish production and profit. After that, its time to innovate again.

[@Zathurious]

The irony is palpable when you consider Nintendo wouldn't exist at all if they had lost the lawsuit when Hollywood Studios sued them back in the 80s.

[@Tm_Slink]

All they did was literally use Univeral's own argument that King Kong was Public Domain against them.

[@fjod1689]

Nintendo has existed way before videogames started, they started as a playing-card company and later found a space in the videogame industry. Not to mention that there is no comparasion in the degree of copying Palworld is doing and the one Nintendo did with Donkey Kong. If lets say Donkey Kong copied like 30%-35% out of King Kong and the rest they made it up then Palworld has copied around 90%-95% over Pokemon and the rest is IA changes.

[@circledude2362]

Nintendo does now own these Patents. Pokemon started filing Patents in 2007. This is after a few monster taming titles use them. So Pokemon's patents are false.

[@bubexpress5435]

what patents did they really own back in the day besides palworld

[@natsuokirigya4080]

They never owned palworld, they “owned” a patent for monster catching games, which isn’t valid due to the existence to dragon quest and persona and SMT and thousands of other games that have similar mechanics

[@bubexpress5435]

@@natsuokirigya4080 is palworld going to get removed from steam and xbox?

[@circledude2362]

@@natsuokirigya4080 Nintendo is playing with fire. This is a lawsuit they will lose. The Patent the Pokemon company filed about throwing an item to catch and summon a creature was filed in 2021. But this way to catch a monster was used by Nexomon in 2020. a year BEFORE the Pokemon company made Patent.

[@thieftheodore]

​@@natsuokirigya4080 all of those monster catching games don't have the player enter aim mode then throw an object at monster then enter rng sequences to capture it.

[@NoraNoita]

Patents in gaming are insane... it destroys making games, it's the one thing a monopoly strives to achieves, remove the ability from competitors to make a better product.

[@belaschmidt1770]

I hate that the rival system in Shadow of War is patented so noone can do something like it now.

[@ChamAramis]

Thanks for doing actual research for this and not just assuming it was copyright, like plenty of other people are thinking.

[@mariokarter13]

Patent protections are much broader than copyright. There's no "fair use" exception that allows you to make the Darkbulb, it's still the same patent as the Lightbulb.

[@acamera367]

Now I want a real darkbulb.

[@globalistgamer6418]

I mean, a darkbulb is not the same thing as a lightbulb. Instead of emitting light, it contains a miniature black hole that sucks it in.

[@vinnieg007]

Kind of funny that Nintendo hasn't sued PocketPair earlier since Craftopia pulls a lot of stuff from Legend of Zelda BOTW

[@mrmaxin53]

Iono…you could also say TOTK pulls building mechanics from craftopia? Not sure if craft had that when it released in 2020 but BOTW certainly didn’t

[@vinnieg007]

@@mrmaxin53 I was talking about the moblin looking enemies and the big skull they live in

[@mrnygren2]

Palworld sold better.

[@troykv96]

They probably saw Craftopia as Shovelware that isn't worth fighting against, they could likely lose more money than PocketPair if they tried to sue them over Craftopia.

[@vinnieg007]

@@troykv96 yeah it's quite unstable until now

[@ScoutBostonAnonStuds]

Buying a copy of palworld to supply their legal funds

[@iam18bitch2]

Isnt Sony backing the company by now? This is gonna be interesting.

[@phantomstrider]

If I were to guess, I think the patent Nintendo was trying to make in September (all that patent stuff about pictures-information processing) was essentially patenting any pokedex-like device. I feel like Nintendo winning this one will set a disturbing precedent that we can only ever have Gamefreak's often-mediocre RPG games when it comes to capturing animal-like creatures and pointing dramatically as they dog-fight. And Gamefreak has certainly shown me from many of their games that they could use some competition and setting a higher standard for these RPG's.

[@PunishedFelix]

I'm really nervous about this development because the catching monsters genre has already been established for over 25 years now (I'm not even sure if Pokemon is the first one) so its going to screw up an entire genre. I could see some Pal world assets looking pokemon-ish but the patent approach is dangerous and mass reaching

[@YORCHspartan117]

​@@PunishedFelix IIRC the first one was Shin megami tensei, ironically though, dragon quest and digimon are also predecesors to pokemon

[@PunishedFelix]

@@muffinchubby2352 with that vague description TCP wants to lay claim to the entire computer vision industry apparently

[@JustAShyGhost]

​@@YORCHspartan117BUT they never actually claimed a patent for it till now and Nintendo likely wont sue with such a broad patent, meaning no countersueing from other companies if it goes through. Patents also dont work as the first who made it but the first who claimed it (sadly)

[@Emmycron]

Artistic patents are a scourge on basic human creativity. No idea you have is unique, someone has thought of it long before you. Sure if you're outright copying someone that's bad but making something *similar* shouldn't be punished, especially when it's clearly not just a blatant ripoff

[@knuclear200x]

Every lawsuit reveals how uncreative Nintendo truly is

[@BloodDracolich]

Long story short, for Nintendo this isn't about making a point, standing on principle, or even winning a case. It's about trying to use the legal system to starve their competition out financially.

[@natsuokirigya4080]

If that lawsuit works then I hope square enix files a patent on all monster catching games and sues Nintendo into the ground since that’s the standard they now set

[@KrimsonKattYT]

More like SEGA/Atlus sueing Nintendo. Megami Tensei 1 predates Pokemon by an entire decade and predates Dragon Quest 5 by 7 years.

[@natsuokirigya4080]

@@KrimsonKattYT this whole thing is dumb. This is a precedent that absolutely should not be set. I hope pocket pair sends out a legal fund donation bc I would donate in a heartbeat

[@PlebNC]

Nintendo: HAHA! We beat Palworld! Square-Enix (tapping Nintendo's shoulder): Hi, your game franchise is a breach of our patent on JRPG game mechanics. Nintendo: No! Our thing is different!

[@Wadusher]

@@natsuokirigya4080 They have Microsoft on their side, I don't think they'll need to do that lol

[@colticide]

it's going to be a big sign that if they sue them over a patent that is clearly used in many other games that they never went after before, its just proof they are being petty over a game not even in the same console or digital market as nintendo

[@colticide]

Competition yes, but not same market. should have clarified

[@mrnygren2]

​@@colticideThe same playerbase. Many Pokemon fans went to Palworld.

[@colticide]

@@mrnygren2 that too, but if you only have a switch palworld is unobtainable for you. So they likely fear the ones with dual systems

[@Bothrops_Asper_89]

@@mrnygren2 The way I see it, they don't really hold the exact playerbase. Pokemon is mostly targetted towards children, competitive battling is not their main focus. Palworld is not the kind of game you'd let children play. A better example of direct competition for Pokemon would be temtem, yokai watch or dragon quest monsters. If anything, Palworld rivals Ark and other open world survival titles.

[@mrnygren2]

@@Bothrops_Asper_89 Disagreed. There are older hardcore Pokemon fans like myself who bought Palworld and I'm 34.

[@bossbrozork3022]

"This would establish that they have far more legal power they already have" Bro they already have this legal power but unlike copyright Nintendo sueing because of patent infringement is rarer and also has this code of honor that goes back to the arcade years in japan.

[@aisadal2521]

Nintendo really likes to remind people how petty they can be, huh?

[@nathanael9159]

Still not as petty as others, smh.

[@kazoorion7993]

@@nathanael9159 Is that supossed to be an achievement?

[@RenSako]

@@kazoorion7993in the gaming industry? Kind of, yes. Nintendo is kind of chill for a gaming company, and a bunch of entitled children on the internet being mad at them because they have to actually pay for games or, say, aren't able to steal ideas freely from them, doesn't make them the bad guys.

[@snintendog]

@@RenSako nintendo chill... right. When the Nintendo Ninjas have been a meme PREdating the internet.

[@nathanael9159]

@@kazoorion7993 No?

[@MATABEI]

Nintendo: "It's not about money. It's about sending a message...” Welp, I'm never playing anther Pokemon game again.

[@bryanmerel]

My only wish is that, if Nintendo or TPC win this Patent Lawsuit, I hope a bigger company files an even more serious Patent Lawsuit against them in an act of Karma. 😒

[@KrimsonKattYT]

SEGA or Square Enix will sue them since they both had monster catchers before Pokemon. Maybe even Bandai Namco as the original Digimon Tomogachis predate Pokemon by around a year.

[@nobody-xh6ii]

Every game with mount systems could sue Nintendo too because Nintendo had taken a patent for this and tries to claim only they can do such a thing. They can't.

[@thebravegallade731]

This won't happen because with gaming patents, its a MAD situation. If SE files 100 patent infringement cases, nintendo has around the same.

[@4.1132]

Okay bit of a thing to understand about patents is that they are broken up into different sections, so you have a title, an abstract (which is basically a short summary of the entire thing), a short description of state of the art, the problem being solved, technical field, possible applications etc., then there is a section on the specific patent claims (this is actually much more important because this defines the scope of the legal protections) and lastly there are drawings, diagrams, patent family, documents etc. The entire thing is often multiple pages long and written in very dense technical and legal language. Patents are very expensive and take between 2-5 years to be granted (they produce an ungodly amount of paperwork too 😅). Patents are territorial i.e you only get protection for the countries you filed for. Disputes are very, very common both during application and after granting, these disputes often take ages to resolve unless there’s some kind of settlement or agreement. The system does get abused sometimes, in both directions. Also ironically patents were originally designed to incentivize innovation by allowing the inventor exclusive rights to their invention for a limited period of time (max. 20 years though there are exceptions for extension and some countries have „small patents“ at max. 10 years, these are maximum durations, it is possible to kill a patent and it is very common to do so). Just to give some context on patents because they are a good deal more complex than some of the other intellectual property protections. Little addendum: in the industry I was in, it was sometimes seen as rude to just start legal proceedings without sending a warning letter (basically „we think you’re infringing on our patent so and so, please stop“) first or talking to the other company first, because a lot of the time it’s easier for both parties to come to an agreement outside of court. I‘m not familiar with Japanese IP protections but the way Nintendo went about this is a bit weird to me, doesn’t mean that sudden lawsuits are uncommon more the way they went about informing the other party seemingly via press release is a bit weird.

[@fox1098216]

You didn't address the fact that the lawsuit cropped up after Sony started to make a deal with Pocketpair. That spooked Nintendo cause Sony wants to prop this up to have anime and merchandising just like Pokemon.

[@theonlymann1485]

only two ways from here- we make their stupid asses sue every single game company for violating an "ideaTM", and show the world why this is a bad idea(if they win all of them, theres a chance we can jab at them for being too big, and if they lose any we can use that to leverage everything else), or, we win this, and show the world that stupid patents shouldnt exist to make greedy companies make more money

[@faequeenapril6921]

This is a lawsuit that worries me because the monster taming genre is growing in the indie world, people love pokemon and digimon and they want to make their own work in the genre. And some of the patents that nintendo and the pokemon company have are stupid, me and a friend was talking about it and looking at the patents and its like if video games companies in the 90s patented mouse aiming in fps games or pressing a button to make a character jump. It could be that Nintendo is just reaching, but its still stupid because pokemon is massive, its what? the biggest franchise on the planet right now? the majority of people that play other monster taming games like Palworld are also Pokemon fans and will still be Pokemon fans because of how long the franchise has been going for. People making other monster taming games is not going to reduce Nintendo/Pokemon Company's revenue because people are still going to buy Pokemon games, but because they decided to file this lawsuit I have seen more people beginning to openly hate Nintendo and the Pokemon Company. So if this was about the potential of people moving to another monster taming game, then this lawsuit will make their sales dip a little and not that other video games exist.

[@FMHikari]

I'm 100% sure they're only suing now, because their lawyers also forgot about patents and were frantically searching for copyright/trademark material.

[@MadDogRyan]

Well by Nintendo and The Pokemon company's logic they owe Square Enix because dragon quest did all of this first

[@Americanbadashh]

DQ wasn't the first. The first was some scifi game in the 1980s

[@KrimsonKattYT]

​@@AmericanbadashhFirst was Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei for the NES. Which was developed by Atlus and the IP owned by SEGA since SEGA bought Atlus in 2015. SEGA could very easily sue Nintendo for making a monster catching RPG after them.

[@nobafan7515]

​@@KrimsonKattYTsonic may just get his rivalry revenge :)

[@dubemonoh2745]

@@KrimsonKattYT No he means cosmic solider which came out in 1985, 2 years before the smt franchise as a whole.

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

Enix didnt patent those game mechanics. Try again, Mad dog.

[@darken2417]

To be fair, no one thought Pokemon would try the patent route. That surprised everyone, a very unconventional move. It seems like they are trying their luck and hoping it sticks so that they now have more tools to go after everyone with.

[@DrWaxen]

The reasons why they waited are simple. 1. To find a reason (no matter how small) to sue in the first place. 2. To wait long enough for pocketpair to make enough money to sue them for. It's as easy as that. It's what everything is about in this day and age, cash.....and lots of it. Needless to say I've lost all my faith and trust in Nintendo at this point. When there were rom hacks out there of SEGA'S old sonic games they just let it happen, even offering jobs and allowing the rest to continue and end up creating incredible games like Freedom Planet. Nintendo needs to get a clue.

[@BlueDavrial]

Overly broad patents should, and i mean this without exaggeration, be illegal and struck down. That specific TPC patent that was read out is so broad that it could basically cover showing any kind of image for any reason in a game. That's bad. Things like that dont exist to protect innovators, they exist purely as a tool for the powerful to beat down creatives. That patent should never have been granted in the first place. I hope PocketPair are able to use the money they earned to get that struck down.

[@HiddenGemsReviews]

What makes all this even funnier was Nintendo saying back in January that they're looking into Pocketpair, who now has Palworld Entertainment Inc. through Aniplex and Sony. So now they have more funding to fight back against Nintendo. As someone else put it online, this is like Goku throwing Cell a Senzu Bean.

[@Magicwaterz]

Someone made a video on Nintendo suing a company on patents and won for the principle on how you said how patent infringement is treated there, which is an honor code, where they can do the same stuff but don't make a big deal about it. Basically what happened is that that company tried to patent and claim a certain touch control that worked similarly to Nintendo's patent before them, and made a big deal about it, so they sued.

[@ace-catel]

This is a low blow, especially from a big company. Feels so wrong, and unfair. They have the resources to make a better game than Palworld, but this is the route they took...

[@DoraKage]

Question- can the way a 3D Model, an asset is built be patented? Case in point - a cube is a 3D object - there are a hundred ways to construct a cube. But if it was built in a specific way - which results in a specific topology, a specific configuration of edge loops and triangles - can that be patented?

[@jokered1133]

Imagine Nintendo had a patent on Jumping, because they claim they invented Jumping, all your mobility in other games is gonna be sliced unless that studio licenses the Jump feature from Nintendo

[@willhinrichs3678]

I hope this backfires on Nintendo, and if they do in fact get palworld/pocketpair to give up and drop the game, I hope every single Pokemon and palworld fan boycott’s support for Pokémon’s future games. Ridiculous! We deserve more than just what pokemon gives. Besides Pokemon has been so mediocre/average at best for the last 10 years. They need some competition! And someone else to keep them motivated! Tired of them putting out half assed games.

[@OpXarxa]

don't count on that. the average pokemon fan is barely online if at all. 90% of people buying the next pokemon game in whatever state it's in will not even know palworld is a thing that exists, much less that this is a thing that happened. There's a reason big corpos seem to not care so much about PR in cases like this.

[@porkyvonchop6458]

palworld got so much potential it worry the yakuza (nintendo) so much

[@Riis-Bro]

How did I get an ad for a Pokémon mod for Minecraft right before this video?

[@TheWeirdDinosaur]

nintendo is going full fine bros i swear, and i wanna bet the pokemon stans are creaming

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

This is why I hate the concept of "Intellectual property" and the way art is only a commodity now and nothing else

[@Celtic_Spartan]

all i got from this video is that Nintendo is trying to claim legally binding ownership of the gaming equivalent of say horror movies.

[@t00nbink]

To me it's very gross Nintendo just has the power to basically take down any game they personally don't like with this system. They have enough patents and enough money that they could virtually go after any studio they feel like.

[@amphiptered.5355]

It is really annoying since Nintendo will never make a PC pokemon game but they keep striking down pokemon-like games on the PC. Vague laws, vague patents, vague rules, and the like shouldn't be allowed.

[@mrnygren2]

The same playerbase, any player on the PC Pokemon-styled game is a lost player for Nintendo.

[@lightrealmrapono]

As an enjoyer of creature collecting games, I hope Nintendo loses.

[@matt55242]

Nintendo owns the patent for capturing, storing, and retrieving creatures from a capsule. I suspect that's one they're using.

[@ShuajoX]

Yes, that's what I've seen Japanese Twitter users bring up. The patent of the idea of the Poké Ball. Edit: Specifically throwing spheres at monsters to catch them.

[@blaket1841]

That design doesn't seem specific enough to warrant a patent, but patents have been getting extremely ambiguous for years. Petty and frivolous lawsuits should prevent a company from suing again for a specified period of time. There is way too much lawfare in the corporate world where bigger companies bully smaller companies.

[@larrylaffer3246]

Man Capsule Corp™ really fell asleep at the wheel on protecting that copyright/patent considering Capsules are kinda their whole schtick.

[@magnadramon0068]

Nintendo created that patent this year just to sue Palworld. Also the concept of collecting creatures in a capsule existed before Pokemon. In fact Game Freak had to change their name from Capsulemon to Pokemon in order to avoid copyright infringement.

[@blaket1841]

@@magnadramon0068 Didn't dragonball have items in capsules in the 80s? Technically the patent should belong to Akira Toriyama's family. Although I don't think patents that simple should exist to begin with because it falls into that realm of other people can easily come up with the same idea on their own. Game patents outside of complex AI and intricate design logos, buildings, or characters should not exist.

[@meikaishi]

I think that legally patents should not be allowed to be vague, if the intent is protecting a invention, then the patent should be heavily specific about the invention itself

[@1snivy10]

Patent law needs to be abolished dear god

[@RedX03]

And I just saw a video about game devs In japan not actually enforcing patents as a “code of honor” so much for that

[@PKSunset]

You don't know what the patents are.

[@livlinn971]

It just saddens me how Nintendo became the "evil greedy corpa" archetype after passing of CEO Mr. Iwata. (I won’t say they were all goody in the past, but it was definitely not THIS bad)

[@maxuwl]

Are you sure? Remember smbz as taken down A ANIMATION of all things got down

[@OpXarxa]

It was always this bad. Iwata was largely the exception. Remember when their tactic to compete with Sega in the original console wars was by outright refusing to send stock to any game shops that also stocked sega stuff?

[@livlinn971]

@@OpXarxa Oh… so that was the good ol' Sega vs Nintendo about?🫢 Are you telling me Mr. Iwata was just a facade of wholesomeness?😂 Still, I do sense like post Iwata Nintendo got more aggressive with C&D against non profit cases. But this might need an actual research

[@jacksonvoet8312]

I honestly think this is just Nintendo doing big stick negotiation for a cut of Pocket Pair’s pie, and it’ll actually result in Palworld being on the Switch successor. That’s how this usually ends with non fangame indie lawsuits.

[@darryljack6612]

To give further clarification this is a Patent infringement lawsuit, not Copyright infringement like everyone thought back in the day. So this lawsuit has nothing to do with artwork of character design. Instead it invovles mecahincs. The mechanics in question that Nintendo patented and are suing for is (apparently) (1) The targeting system of tossing an object at a mon in an overworld, like what we see in Legends Arceus. (2) Getting on and off a flying mount in the overworld. (3) And releasing creatures into the over world via and object. Whas even crazier is that (at least the targeting system one) the patent(s) was either refiled in May of this year, which was right before Sony and Pocketpair went through on a new dealing for a partnership to branch palworld into many of the same avenues that pokemon does.

[@goob1in606]

2 of those 3 don't even make sense, what are they going to do net sue ark survival evolved because you can mount flying creatures such as Pteranodons and the argentavis, or what they are also going to sue ark because of the cryopod, that is way too vague why is that allowed

[@darryljack6612]

@@goob1in606 It's like he said in the video, if they wanted to Nintendo can target many other games that have or have yet to come release with these same Lawsuits. The only real reason they are targeting PocketPair is because of how much money they made and they are in the same genre of game.

[@iam18bitch2]

Flying mount: Horizon Forbidden West ARK half the mounts in WoW and a plethora of other games. Releasing creature into the world via object: TemTem Coromon ARK and more

[@ultimate9056]

Its ridiculous. Boardgames and TTRPGs already established that you can't patent game mechanics. It's absurd that video games and software don't follow the same logic

[@snintendog]

@@darryljack6612 its lawfare plain and simple All pocket pair as to do is point to ULTRAMAN, Hell even DRAGON QUEST and instantly invoke That It isnt TPC's patent to hold and argue TPC has NO RIGHT to Hold the patent PERIOD. it ta KONG situation all over again.

[@pokepress]

I do wonder if this could be an “appease shareholders” type of deal. Waiting to see if Legal Eagle covers this one.

[@Techigai]

Yep, Nintendo will sue for just about anything if they don't like it. This just proves it again.

[@seanmorris440]

Copyright vs trademark is easy. If I create a character and you use my drawing without permission, its copyright infringement. If I create a character and you re-draw it, its trademark infringement.

[@Lonewolf3515]

Exactly, which is what Pocket Pair did not do to Gamefreak. XD Sure, the designs are like ~80% similar in some cases, and the ideas are like ~90% similar in some cases, but that's not 100% in any case lol. I think Pocket Pair gonna make it through. :)

[@drdca8263]

I don’t think that’s correct? I think trademark would be like, if the character is associated with your brand, and people might think my work is affiliated with you or something like that because I displayed my drawing of your character on the cover or packaging or in advertising materials or like, promotional footage, that I think would be trademark infringement (provided that you had a trademark on the character). If I just put Ash Ketchum (which I draw myself) in some chapter of a comic I write+draw, in a way that isn’t fair-use, but also is clearly not suggestive that it is endorsed by the copyright owners of Ash Ketchum, then I think that would be copyright infringement (despite the drawing being something I drew without looking at a reference image of Ash Ketchum, as long as he is called Ash Ketchum and looks like Ash Ketchum) but, I *think* not trademark infringement?

[@5h0ckblock]

Nintendo was so against fixing Pokemon that they just made mounts and summons illegal

[@sonicmeerkat]

never underestimate the pettiness of nintendos law team

[@robbyw.8616]

What is gonna happen with games like TemTem?

[@danielmalinen6337]

There is no certainty yet. But at least when this was asked the developers of Temtem were of the opinion that this doesn't affect them in any way because they are a European studio and Palworld is developed by a Japanese studio.

[@snintendog]

@@danielmalinen6337 square will sue nintendo then Namco then Sega. It will be a bloodbath of Patent suits.

[@crewcutter2030]

In short, nintendo is going after pocket pair because they both catch monsters by throwing balls.

[@Zectifin]

Nintendo continuing to prove they are the true villian.

[@ShadowEclipex]

I am hoping Nintendo doesn't win this. The presedants this can set have the potential to be extremely dangerous and stifle game development in favor of the major corporations who can horde all those vague patents.

[@jojodelacroix]

The thing that scares me about things like this is that a lot of courts don't always understand the nuances of things like video games. So you could have some random, 80 year old dude make a declaration that threatens to destroy the video game industry because, well, he has no idea what he's talking about. I already strongly disliked Nintendo for stuff like this, but in this case, they are clearly lashing out because they are mad that someone can get that close to making a game with Pokemon designs while technically not infringing on their copyrights and trademarks. The only real win here is if the case gets thrown out early on, but I doubt that happens. It does seem like a weak enough case that Nintnedo could outright lose, but we shall see.

[@Mukar]

This kind of corporate bullying should be illegal.

[@HLFMikiLink]

We're reached the point where monopolies now, scared of someone else doing a better job, are forcing them to stop creating and innovating. That's it, the decay of the videogame industry.

[@ThrillerXero]

Nintendo’s lawyers are the most feared things ever

[@QuantumNova]

57 Wins 3 Loses.

[@nullpoint3346]

But what about the Ninteninjas?

[@fillerpoint555]

It still feels weird that people are like "Palworld was competition for Game freak!" when Pokémon is the most profitable media franchise in existence and I haven't heard of Palworld in months, nor anything about why it's better beyond graphics. The game's entire popularity rides on spite towards Pokémon and Game Freak.

[@andrewgray573]

Palworld is actually a pretty decent game. It's maybe not a Game of the Year contender, but it doesn't have to be. It's fun, which is all that's really required.

[@jazzpear8877]

They wouldn’t bother if they didn’t feel at least a little threatened

[@rahvithecolorful]

​@@jazzpear8877 these kinds of lawsuits aren't really about the specific thing they're suing, tho, it's about sending a message to anyone who might be thinking or come to think of doing something similar in the future to not even try to do whatever it is they're suing for. I doubt they care so much about Palworld, they just want to discourage anyone else from trying whatever it is they're suing Palword for. They probably don't even care so much if they win, just showing that they will sue you for this already makes a point, it just isn't worth it for smaller devs to try their luck.

[@ArtificialDjDAGX]

Ngl, feels like Pokemon should be sued for anti-competitive behaviour

[@hollow314]

Wait until they patent air and human have to pay to breathe

[@Nighteater]

I think I recall reading that Nintendo has a patent on the pokeball catching animation... all palworld had to do was avoid putting in the same catching animation as Pokemon... There was zero reason to copy the 3 shake design, unless you like fliring with Nintendo...

[@HitPointPersonal]

This is a weird topic, because yes i want Nintendo to protect their intellectual properties so we can continue having Nintendo magic, without an over saturated market of knock off games..... but also palworld does enough different that i wouldn't consider it a knock off like tem tem or other monster tamer games...... and also pokemon has been going downhill for the last couple of generations.

[@Hadeks_Marow]

If the pokemon company/nintendo don't actively push their right to take down patent infringers, don't they risk losing that patent? And more over, if they haven't enforced it thus far, wouldn't that mean that they are opening up this risk now?

[@starkiller1289]

They pushed patents through months after Palworld dropped this isn't something they just found out or are "at risk of losing" it's something they are trying to 'gotcha' Palworld with.

[@Hadeks_Marow]

@@starkiller1289 You don't understand the question. In the legal system, if you make a precedent of letting everyone use your IP, it can then be made to argue that it has gone Public Domain. Frizbee for example. That's a name brand. Same with Band-Aid. Both of which lost their IP rights, not because the 50 year period was up. . . but because everyone was using it and the rights holders did not stop them. The above question has absolutely NOTHING to do with/isn't about palworld nor the lawsuit. The term I am asking about is what's known as "IP Erosion".

[@nobody-xh6ii]

What i think should happen is have Square Enix suddenly come out of left field and start suing Nintendo at the exact same time. Then have other companies start doing the same. If nintendo gets sued for more than they are worth, they'd be screwed from having lawyers because they wouldnt beable to keep up costs. This would force nintendo's hand to either back off or go under. And mind you, square enix has plenty of money to push court dates back just to screw with nintendo by lining up court dates at the exact same time as any date nintendo wants to sue palworld on. Do this enough times with every company suing and it'll show exactly how much people are done with nintendo's bullying tactics. And if they drop the lawsuit on palworld, the other companies wont have to follow. They can keep going after nintendo. This needs to happen so that nintendo gets the picture that people will not continue to tolerate their bs anymore

[@AltyBagU]

The way I understand it they are trying to patent the fact of basically weakening something and throwing a trap at it. Which is dumb and I hope Nintendo not only loses but then gets hit with a such an obvious frivolous lawsuit because this act already exist in nature.

[@foxxsenpai]

hold on. did I understand that patent right? they own the patent to "making your device show images"? oh boy

[@WolferMcKenzie]

Remember when Palworld came out and the official pokemon media channels posted a lot of stuff, thing that they never do. Even to the point were they were making spoilers for the Indigo Disk DLC that a lot of people was mad about it? And now the petty lawsuit. I am sure now nintendo its scared of palworld

[@iriswav7379]

I am a pokemon fan with a now stable job and I never bought the DLC's because those DLCs should have been in the base game. Hopefully Pocketpair wins so that TPC starts actually putting effort in their games

[@Chaos_Senpai]

​@iriswav7379 worse thing is the dlcs are way better than the base game

[@Cattivagirl]

Lol, repeating history! Just like when Nintendo was heavily advertising just to make people forget about the Princess Crown & that fan character Bowsette!