While most are aware of the ongoing patent infringement lawsuit Nintendo have brought against Pocketpair, creators of Palworld—until now that case is only raging on Japanese soil, with Nintendo seeking over $66k in damages for 3 patents.
Recently, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have taken steps that suggest they might be preparing for a similar battle in the US. They are going to have a much harder time of it though, with GamesFray reporting that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) overwhelmingly rejected 22 out of 23 of Nintendo's patent claims.
What is going on with Nintendo's case in the US against Palworld so far?
There is no case yet, however Nintendo appear to be trying to build an arsenal of patents behind them and if successful may later start litigation in a similar manner to what they are doing in Japan.
One patent that has been successfully given to Nintendo is U.S. Patent No. 12,179,111 which covers the process of aiming and capturing characters. This was filed for after Palworld's launch but in the world of patent filing, is totally above board if it can related to an earlier 'patent family.'
In December, prior to Palworld's huge Feybreak DLC, the game was updated to amend these capture mechanics possibly in direct response to this patent infringement suit.
Yesterday, Nintendo got another patent in the US
On February 11, GamesFray reported that Nintendo has been awarded another patent in the US. This patent is so new that it doesn't yet appear on Google Patents, but the site found it was filed on July 18, 2024. This patent covers methods of capturing characters, including aiming points, indications of the likelihood of successfully capturing a virtual character, and how to display the captured character and another virtual character starting to fight. Sound familiar?
Additionally, an attorney representing Nintendo has called a meeting with the U.S. patent examiner to discuss a patent application related to the "smooth switching of riding objects in a game." The USPTO is willing to grant only one out of 23 claims from this application if Nintendo drops the other 22 claims. Nintendo may have requested this meeting to persuade the examiner to grant more claims or to agree to separate the allowable claim from the others to get it approved more quickly.
In simple terms, all of this action shows that Nintendo is trying to strengthen their patent portfolio by negotiating with the patent office to get more of their ideas officially recognized and protected. Florian Mueller, owner of GamesFray and well-known for his Activision Blizzard/Microsoft coverage, is reporting regularly on the case. When asked how likely Nintendo is to file a patent infringement case in America, he said:
"They're clearly trying to get there, but it looks more difficult than they might have thought at the outset. For example, the fact that the USPTO is prepared to grant only one out of 23 claims of one of those patents is a setback for Nintendo. But they are fighting."
