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© Pocketpair, Inc.
The official website for the Pocketpair game Palworld revealed on Friday three patents that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have claimed are patent infringements in their lawsuit against Pocketpair. In addition, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are “requesting an injunction against the game and partial damages arising from the date of the patent application to the date of filing of this lawsuit.” Both companies seek compensation of 5 million yen (about 32,700 USD) plus compensation for late payments.
The first target patent, Patent No. 7545191, involves pointing an object toward a character. In other words, it refers to aiming a Pokéball at a Pokémon to initiate combat. The second patent, Patent No. 7493117, involves capturing a character, specifically a creature, in a field setting. The third related patent is Patent No. 7528390, which focuses on riding creatures.
Pocketpair vowed to continue to assert its position through future legal procedures.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair in the Tokyo District Court on September 18. The lawsuit claims that the game infringes on the patent rights of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, and that seek an injunction against infringement as well as damages. Pocketpair responded by stating that they were “not aware of specific patents.” [nó] alleged violations and [nó] has not been informed of those details.”The company said it will initiate legal proceedings and investigate the complaints.
Players and critics initially noticed similarities in the design of many of the game's “Pal” creatures to the iconic Pokémon of the Pokémon franchise. The Pokémon Company released a statement shortly after Palworld's release that they were investigating possible copyright infringement by an unnamed game company.
The game launched on PS5 in 68 countries and territories on September 25, but Pocketpair later announced the game would not launch on PS5 in Japan on that same date. The game was finally released on Friday in Japan for PS5 on September 27.
Pocketpair launched the multiplayer survival game Palworld on January 19 as a Steam Early Access game. The game reached 25 million users within a month of its release.
Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. and subsidiary Aniplex, along with Pocketpair, formed a new joint venture called Palworld Entertainment in July.
Korean game developer Krafton has signed a licensing agreement with Pocketpair for IP (intellectual property) to expand the game's IP to mobile platforms.
Source: Pocketpair
