LogIn"Even if they were valid, we wouldn’t infringe them anyway."
Pocketpair
It's been seven months since we learned about the patent infringement lawsuit filed last September by Nintendo against Pocketpair, the developer behind the popular action-adventure survival game Palworld. While fighting with such a gaming giant might be intimidating, the Palworld studio has fully fired up to defend itself.
According to Games Fray, a Japanese lawyer specialized in patents went to the Tokyo District Court, on behalf of the outlet, to access the case file. Their report on this lawsuit reveals the position of each party:
"Nintendo says: 'Here we have three patents and you infringe each of them.' Pocketpair replies: 'Each of them is invalid, and even if they were valid, we wouldn’t infringe them anyway.'"
Pocketpair argues that the three patents involved in the lawsuit should not have been granted in the first place because the mechanics mentioned were already in use in other games, as proved by the "prior art," meaning "published material, such as other patent applications, articles or games."
Pocketpair named a few such cases, including their own game Craftopia, released in 2021, games from other teams such as Ark: Survival Evolved, a beloved 2017 open world survival game by Studio Wildcard, Final Fantasy 14 by Square Enix, Tomb Raider, Far Cry 5, Path of Exile, Monster Hunter 4G/Ultimate, and more; along in the list are also mods that introduced innovative gameplay, such as a Dark Souls 3 mod that was released in 2020, and even Nintendo's own titles, including Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, and The Legend of Zelda.
How would a company's own games infringe its patent? Games Fray explains that this "is how patent law works, their own publications can be held against those who apply for patents."
If the Court decides that the patents are not invalidated, Pocketpair argues that Palworld does not infringe on them. Games Fray has reminded that "a patent is only infringed if each and everyone of its claim limitations is infringed. If there's just one thing in a claim that is not infringed, the whole claim is not infringed."
Pocketpair says that the two games belong to different genres, with Palworld being a survival and crafting game, while Pokémon is a role-playing game, although they both involve creatures that don't exist in the real world. Plus, some words in Nintendo’s patents are quite vague. For example, terms like "game program" are too broad.
According to the outlet, additional written pleadings from the parties will be submitted to the Court, which will decide after a trial.
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