It was something that could be seen coming. Nine months ago, the launch of Palworld, developed by Pocketpair, completely shook the community. While it garnered millions of downloads in a matter of days, players were quick to point out its strong resemblance to the Pokémon game. A resemblance that has also caught the attention of Nintendo’s lawyers and has led to a lawsuit against Pocketpair.
Nintendo has announced through its website that, together with The Pokémon Company, it has filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair in Tokyo Court for patent infringement.
In their statement, they explain that “this lawsuit seeks an injunction against the infringement and compensation for damages on the basis that Palworld, a game developed and released by the defendant, infringes multiple patent rights.”
Additionally, the document states that “Nintendo will continue to take necessary measures against any infringement of its intellectual property rights,” rights that “have been so hard to establish over the years.”
Many have been surprised that Nintendo’s lawyers took so long to prepare the lawsuit against Pocketpair. Some time ago, Takuro Mizobe, executive director of Pocketpair, stated that Palworld had passed all legal reviews. However, for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, this clearly has not been the case.
At the beginning of the year, the Pokémon Company published a statement in which it warned about what was to come: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate action to address any act that infringes on Pokémon’s intellectual property rights.” Certainly, forewarned is forearmed.
