Amid the Palworld dispute, one analyst says Nintendo only strikes when it wants to because it "could have sued half the gaming industry back in 2017"
Sep. 21, 2024“They have thousands and thousands of patents on other things”
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One analyst reckons that Nintendo’s laundry list of patents means it could have sued countless games over the years, but the company is only targeting Palworld over its similarities to Pokemon now because it’s inclined to do so.
Nintendo this week announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Palworldover the creature-collectathon’s patent infringement, not copyright infringement, meaning it might have"given up" on arguing that Pals looked too much like Pokemons. While the details of the suit aren’t yet public, the focus on patents probably indicates that certain Palworld game mechanics are - as the Big N’s legal team will argue - under Nintendo’s ownership, for better or for worse.
We don’t know which patents the Palworld suit is going to revolve around, but it might not necessarily be something as obvious as the much-discussedmonster-catching Pokeball patent- it could be something as small as shadowy outlines on characters that are out of view.
“They have thousands and thousands of patents on other things,” Toto continues. “And they can decide when they want to initiate a lawsuit, and when they don’t want to initiate a lawsuit.”
Palworld has become a monster success and shifted tens of millions of sales in the months since its launch, so why did Nintendo choose this particular moment to declare legal action? Toto reckons that"Nintendo felt threatened"as Palworld has began expanding into multiplatform releases,anime, and merchandising of the Pals - areas whereThe Pokemon Companytraditionally makes its billions.
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Another IP expert argued that Nintendo probably doesn’t own patents strong enough to “prevent Pocketpair from making Palworld,” and this “may boil down to nothing but bullying.”
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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