There was a “seismic shift” in the gaming verse the other day when The Pokemon Company officially filed a lawsuit in Japan against Pocketpair Inc. and its title, Palworld. On the surface, this seemed like an “inevitable” thing, as there were NUMEROUS gamers on both sides of the equation stating that Pocketpair Inc. basically ripped off designs for their Pals by making them look like the 1000+ pocket monsters that The Pokemon Company has made over the 25+ years of life the franchise has had. However, in a twist, what the case actually broke down to was a matter of patent infringement, which surprised many.
That included Pocketpair, who noted in a statement after the lawsuit was made known that they were “unaware” of any “specific patents” that they had infringed upon, which is fair for a basic reason. You see, patents are a curious thing because you don’t necessarily have to “prove” that something works or even make something to a certain extent; you merely need to make an outline of what it is, how it works, and so on, and you can file a patent for it. That applies to gaming concepts and mechanics, which The Pokemon Company and Nintendo have numerous patents in, and have gone after people who have infringed upon them.
A patent attorney talked with Yahoo Japan about the situation and believes that what this all breaks down to is the patent for Pokeballs. Yes, really. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company invested in a patent that specifically breaks down the use of a Pokeball-like object being used to catch a being that someone comes across in the wild, and even details how there are “different types” of them and that there are “ways to gauge how successful the item will be” and so on.
The problem here is that Palworld does have that via their PalSphere, which isn’t exactly a “subtle nod” to their competitor, and the way you capture Pals is virtually the same. You lower the Pal’s HP by battling them or attacking them, then you throw the sphere and hope that the “probability” lines up that they are caught. Once they are, they’re yours.
Plus, just like Pokeballs, there are “levels” of PalSpheres that you can craft to have a “higher rate” of catching a Pal. So, if the patent really covers all those elements and more, then it would indeed be patent infringement.
The irony is that it’s implied that multiple patents have been infringed on, which could make this case all the more interesting when it goes to court.
