Palworld developer responds to Nintendo lawsuit, says "we will do our utmost" to ensure that indie devs "are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas"
Sep. 19, 2024Pocketpair says it’s “unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon”
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Palworld developer Pocketpair has put out a statement responding tothe lawsuit filed against it by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, and says it’ll do its “utmost for fans,” and to “ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.”
Yesterday, anews release from Nintendoconfirmed that a patent infringement lawsuit has been filed against Palworld’s studio which 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.” The news release didn’t list what patent rights have been allegedly infringed, and Pocketpair claims that it hasn’t been informed of such, either.
“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,“Pocketpair’s statementbegins. “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.”
Continuing, the studio says: “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 apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.”
Nintendo said yesterday that it “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.”
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I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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