Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent lawsuit against the developers of the game Palworld, accusing them of violating intellectual property rights.
On September 18, 2024, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company approached the Tokyo District Court with a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld. The plaintiffs are seeking a court injunction to prevent the infringement of their rights and to recover damages caused by the alleged unlawful use of Pokémon's intellectual property.
The conflict began back in January when The Pokémon Company expressed its intention to investigate the similarities between Palworld and their franchise. At that time, Nintendo's CEO Shuntaro Furukawa promised to protect the company's rights without specifically naming Pocketpair or Palworld.
In a press release, Nintendo stated:
"This lawsuit seeks a court injunction against the infringement of rights and compensation for damages based on the assertion that the game Palworld, developed by the defendant, has violated several patent rights."
The company did not disclose any details regarding the specific patents that it believes have been infringed.
Following the announcement of the lawsuit, Pocketpair's global community manager, Baki, posted a tweet with an emoji, which was later deleted. No official response has been provided by Pocketpair yet.
Attorney Richard Goeg commented on the situation to Dexerto, noting that the lawsuit specifically concerns patent rights infringement rather than copyright or trademark violations. He mentioned that a more detailed analysis would require waiting for the full text of the lawsuit to be made public.
It is worth noting that following the viral release of Palworld, the game was accused of copying Pokémon. Users pointed out that many creatures in the game bear a striking resemblance to Nintendo's Pokémon. This similarity sparked heated discussions within the gaming community and attracted the attention of Pokémon franchise rights holders.
Source: Dexerto, Gamesradar
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