Pokémon and Nintendo are suing Palworld but not for the reason fans thought

PALWORLD was a surprise indie hit. Created by a small studio, it far surpassed everyone’s expectations.

However, fans noticed similarities between Pocketpair’s Pals and Nintendo’s Pokémon, and questioned whether there could be any legal difficulty.

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Fans immediately took to social media to ask if there would be legal proceedings, but Nintendo only said they were looking into it.

A previous statement about a potential Palworld lawsuit from Nintendo read that the company would “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.”

Nintendo has finally announced that it, alongside The Pokémon Company, will finally be suing Palworld developer Pocketpair, but it’s not for what people thought.

While fans thought the Pals’ designs were too close to Pokémon’s, the companies are not suing for copyright infringement.

Instead, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court yesterday.

They are seeking an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages. 

A short statement released by Nintendo on its investor relations website reads as follows: “Nintendo Co., Ltd., together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. on September 18, 2024.

“This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights.

“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”

The statement doesn’t reveal which specific patents Pocketpair has allegedly infringed upon, but it is worth noting that this is not a copyright case, so the details are likely very complex.

Palworld was initially released for PC and Xbox in January 2024, and fans often called it ‘Pokémon with guns’ thanks to the cute and colourful Pal designs.

However, the gameplay is very different from the Nintendo franchise, with real-time battles, and survival crafting elements.

There were allegations that Pocketpair ripped and modified models from Pokémon designs, but there was no evidence for this and it was never proven to be true.

Pocketpair has released its own statement regarding the lawsuit, which says: “Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement.

“We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.

“At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.

“Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. 

“We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. 

“Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. 

“We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.

“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. 

“However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.

“We apologise to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused. As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.”

We have also reached out to Pocketpair for comment but have not received a response at the time of writing.

If you want to read more about Pokémon, check out the upcoming seven-star raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.