Pocketpair has revealed the patents that are subject to the Palworld vs. Pokémon lawsuit.
In a new update on their website, they have identified the patents that The Pokémon Company claim that they are violating with the game Palworld.
The patents are as follows:
Patent No. 7545191
[Patent application date: July 30, 2024]
[Patent registration date: August 27, 2024]
Patent No. 7493117
[Patent application date: February 26, 2024]
[Patent registration date: May 22, 2024]
Patent No. 7528390
[Patent application date: March 5, 2024]
[Patent registration date: July 26, 2024]
As you can imagine, we would face difficulty finding these patents in the Japanese patent office and relaying it back to our readers. But as it turns out, Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara correctly identified these as potential patents that The Pokémon Company would use in their lawsuit against Pocketpair. Automaton Media translated information from that article originally published on Yahoo Japan, and you can read the details here.
It’s notable that Automaton’s coverage focused on the Pokéball mechanic, but these patents actually relate to catching monsters or creatures in different scenarios. Also of interest is that these patents were clearly applied only this year, and after Palworld was officially released. The Pokémon Company may not have felt it was necessary to assert their IP rights until they saw this game’s release.
We recognize we are not in the position to determine if that factors in to whether these are valid claims by The Pokémon Company, in a legal basis, or outside the legal sphere, on the principle of creators owning original ideas. As we had reported recently, the IP laws are very different in Japan and America, to the degree that the norms of copyrights and trademarks literally look like they come from a different world.
But we did find the closing statement from Pocketpair remarkably interesting. In their words:
“We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings.
Please note that we will refrain from responding individually to inquiries regarding this case. If any matters arise that require public notice, we will announce them on our website, etc.”
One may interpret that as Pocketpair simply playing it safe as litigation is starting. We think it’s possible that they have felt chastened, after they tried to rally support in the lawsuit. While the West seemed to side overwhelmingly with Pocketpair and against The Pokémon Company, in Japan, people dislike Pocketpair and Palworld, on their own.
It was bad enough that ZUN, the famed underground developer of the Touhou Project, rejected the label of being called an indie dev, and referring to themselves as a doujin dev. And they did that, because Pocketpair said they were fighting the lawsuit on behalf of Japanese indie devs.
Of course Pocketpair really needed that support from their fellow Japanese more than from Westerners, with the case being held in Japan. We have made other reports on why Pocketpair is unpopular in their home country, that Westerners may not know about, but you may expect future updates from The Pokémon Company and Pocketpair about this lawsuit to drip slowly, as this is not likely to be settled easily.
