Back in September, 2024, news broke out about Nintendo suing Palworld creators, PocketPair, in Japan over many of the mechanics that Palworld uses, sharing similarities with the Pokemon franchise, in what later was confirmed to be a patent infringing lawsuit, according to Nintendo and Game Freak's claims.

While PocketPair did release a response about the whole situation later on, little has been known since then about the lawsuit between the two companies in Japanese grounds. However, this week more information was known about Nintendo's moves in the American continent, as they sought to claim 23 patents in the territory.

GamesFray, a website focused on analyzing and reporting over the litigation aspects of the gaming scene, has been following the case closely, going through Nintendo's legal trail in both continents, analyzing the case and reporting over each new step taken in the legal battle. GamesFray disclosed back in February 8th that Nintendo submitted 23 patent claims to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

However, out of those 23 patents submitted by Nintendo, the USPTO rejected 22 out of those 23 patent claims due to those 22 patents not being considered inventive over prior existing art, leaving only one patent to Nintendo, with the USPTO willing to grant that one patent only if Nintendo drops the other 22 patent claims (since that specific patent was dependant on a rejected one).

All of this is the result of the on-going Palworld lawsuit, of course, and Nintendo's modus operandi in this situation is to try to expand the patent gripe to other territories in hopes of gathering more patents overseas, and then, once Nintendo manages to claim enough patents over their "ideas" and "mechanics" (since it has yet to be confirmed if Palworld has indeed infringed on them or not), then they can apply the same legal action against PocketPair in other countries of operation.

Of course, this being Nintendo, they will try to fight the rejected patents and will continue to pursue and flex their legal front to garner more and more patents filled in their favour, but that remains yet to be seen. Additionally, the legal battle in Japan over the patent lawsuit is still unknown, and with how Japan's laws over copyright and patents, in which the terms Fair Use and Prior Art might as well not exist, it's difficult to know if the outcome might be favourable for PocketPair or not.

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[MrHaqs]

Bintendo!

 

[Xzi]

People rarely, if ever, bring up the Nemesis System patent anymore, save for when different (non-Warner Bros.-affiliated) companies are going through patent-related events.

Well yeah, the patent is what, darn near ten years old now? There's nothing to discuss because there's nothing to be done about it until it has gone unused so long that it can be revoked via successful challenge in court.

Edit: Same thing happened with Bandai Namco's loading screen minigame patent, iirc. Those that knew about the patent when it was filed were likely up in arms about it at first. But once computer technology advanced enough that games didn't take nearly as long to load, people stopped caring about the patent, and it more or less expired without much fanfare. Because since loading screen times became way shorter, there was less of a need for something in-game to distract the player while waiting for a game to load. Now people only bring it up for the same reason people bring up the Nemesis System patent.

Right, but that's different for precisely the reason you mentioned: load screens are practically a thing of the past. The nemesis system is a patent on an in-game mechanic, so it will always be an annoyance that we can't see it get more use in other developers' games. It's a perfect example of why the concept is rotten to the core. Nintendo could patent all of Pokemon's mechanics and then not release another Pokemon game for forty years. Not that they would, but they could, and that demonstrates how easily the patent system is abused by large companies.

 

[NostalgicMillennial]

Nintendo thinks that they OWN the entire gaming industry, patents included. Such idiotic fools.

They're all still stuck in the 80s when they had a chokehold on developers and publishers and forced them to not develop for any competitor for 2 years if they wanted to work with them.

They can't get over the fact that era is over

 

[Exnor]

Finally some good news.

I love Nintendo, but also F**k you Nintendo!

 

[AverageHorse]

It's always nice to see Nintendo being bent over.

 

[Ligeia]

I hate Nintendo

 

[yoyoyo69]

YIKES. Going 1 for 23 should be majorly indicative of how they're REALLY fishing for anything they can use as ammo.

I know this doesn't fit the proper definition of a patent troll, but wow, they are really toxic. How their image isn't already decimated I do not know.

 

[branedamage]

Remember All patent offices are connected world wide. If one country swats it down they lose it world wide as per the trade agreements. nintendo buzzing the patent office with Infringing patents is like poking the IRS and publicly posting Tax Fraud. Especially with the USAID situation cracking down do they really want to get the swarm that is currently attack all sort of government corruption to look at the patent office and likely Clean up there now? Remember Patents are not often checked before being filed only being challenged if noticed.

TLDR: If nintendo starts to make a big stink in the US patent office They will likely trigger the DOGE to Swarm there next. Bye bye Stupid and illegal patents that got by.

It's clear that you have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to patent examination and international patent prosecution. Legal procedure is nuanced, particularly so for patent law. But go off. Don't let your total ignorance stop you (and everyone else here, including the journalists) from popping off nonsense based on popular media and conjecture.

 

[NitroRevolutionNX]

View attachment 485688​

Back in September, 2024, news broke out about Nintendo suing Palworld creators, PocketPair, in Japan over many of the mechanics that Palworld uses, sharing similarities with the Pokemon franchise, in what later was confirmed to be a patent infringing lawsuit, according to Nintendo and Game Freak's claims.

While PocketPair did release a response about the whole situation later on, little has been known since then about the lawsuit between the two companies in Japanese grounds. However, this week more information was known about Nintendo's moves in the American continent, as they sought to claim 23 patents in the territory.

GamesFray, a website focused on analyzing and reporting over the litigation aspects of the gaming scene, has been following the case closely, going through Nintendo's legal trail in both continents, analyzing the case and reporting over each new step taken in the legal battle. GamesFray disclosed back in February 8th that Nintendo submitted 23 patent claims to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

However, out of those 23 patents submitted by Nintendo, the USPTO rejected 22 out of those 23 patent claims due to those 22 patents not being considered inventive over prior existing art, leaving only one patent to Nintendo, with the USPTO willing to grant that one patent only if Nintendo drops the other 22 patent claims (since that specific patent was dependant on a rejected one).

All of this is the result of the on-going Palworld lawsuit, of course, and Nintendo's modus operandi in this situation is to try to expand the patent gripe to other territories in hopes of gathering more patents overseas, and then, once Nintendo manages to claim enough patents over their "ideas" and "mechanics" (since it has yet to be confirmed if Palworld has indeed infringed on them or not), then they can apply the same legal action against PocketPair in other countries of operation.

Of course, this being Nintendo, they will try to fight the rejected patents and will continue to pursue and flex their legal front to garner more and more patents filled in their favour, but that remains yet to be seen. Additionally, the legal battle in Japan over the patent lawsuit is still unknown, and with how Japan's laws over copyright and patents, in which the terms Fair Use and Prior Art might as well not exist, it's difficult to know if the outcome might be favourable for PocketPair or not.

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Source #2

A big fuck you to the big N, as it should be.

 

[Mayo1990]

Finally my neighbor Luigi can keep his legal name!

 

[NinStar]

People rarely, if ever, bring up the Nemesis System patent anymore, save for when different (non-Warner Bros.-affiliated) companies are going through patent-related events.

What do you mean? People almost always use that as an example on why patents for video game mechanics are stupid when discussing the topic.

 

[Robert Newbie]

I mean, even with what you just said, I only ever see people talking about the failed live-service games when talking about Warner Bros as far as issues with the company. People rarely, if ever, bring up the Nemesis System patent anymore, save for when different (non-Warner Bros.-affiliated) companies are going through patent-related events.

Which, to me, indicates that we've already reached the point where nobody actually gives a crap about the patent anymore, and mentions it almost exclusively as a convenient arguing point against random patent #562574263. Hence why I say that it often gets a free pass in these kinds of things - nobody cares about it except when using it for the same rehearsed argument.


Edit: Same thing happened with Bandai Namco's loading screen minigame patent, iirc. Those that knew about the patent when it was filed were likely up in arms about it at first. But once computer technology advanced enough that games didn't take nearly as long to load, people stopped caring about the patent, and it more or less expired without much fanfare. Because since loading screen times became way shorter, there was less of a need for something in-game to distract the player while waiting for a game to load. Now people only bring it up for the same reason people bring up the Nemesis System patent.

What do you mean? People almost always use that as an example on why patents for video game mechanics are stupid when discussing the topic.

I guess the problem is that we, as consumers, can't do much once the patent is granted. We usually hear about these things after they've already been filed. One plus is that patent offices have gotten more savvy about the games industry, so filings that protect "character jumping by pressing A" won't likely be granted.

The argument comes down to how these patents affect creativity. Namco's "mini-games in loading screens" patent prevented any other games from having a playable distraction during the loading sequences. Warner Bros.'s Nemesis System patent prevented other devs from having a "revenge" mechanic. What's the same idea independently developed, what's an idea inspired by another creation, and what's an outright plargerization?

 

[Flaming_Autist]

you shouldnt be allowed to copyright ANYTHING that is considered a component of art. Imagine if a painter could copyright styles or themes. Am I crazy for thinking art should get a pass.

 

[Kwyjor]

We usually hear about these things after they've already been filed. One plus is that patent offices have gotten more savvy about the games industry, so filings that protect "character jumping by pressing A" won't likely be granted.

We also don't hear a darn thing about any other related patent applications that have been refused over the years.

but wow, they are really toxic. How their image isn't already decimated I do not know.

This is how the patents work in general and if you read the actual article (which is hardly without its flaws even aside from the sensationalist headline) you'd see at least three other related patents were granted.

 

[ShadowOne333]

you shouldnt be allowed to copyright ANYTHING that is considered a component of art. Imagine if a painter could copyright styles or themes. Am I crazy for thinking art should get a pass.

Imagine patenting a method of painting or drawing, it's basically the same bullshit they're pulling here.

 

[The Catboy]

Wait... PalWorld still exists?

Yeah and it’s still seeing a lot of active players and has been getting new players. It’s also still been getting updates and is even more finished than SV

 

[BlueFox gui]

you know what sucks, the industry is always borrowing ideas and improving, nintendo does that a lot, in fact mario's screen scrolling came from pacman, i don't like the company behind palworld but now they are suing them for that? who's next? Sega Bass Fishing? you're catching virtual creatures in a virtual space

 

[Kwyjor]

Imagine patenting a method of painting or drawing, it's basically the same bullshit they're pulling here.

If you tried to patent a method of painting or drawing, you would have to tell everyone exactly how you did it and everyone would still be able to use that method as long as they weren't using it for commercial gain. And twenty years later everyone would be able to profit from it, too.

Also, having told everyone exactly how you did it, you would be responsible for tracking down anyone using that method in the countries where you managed to obtain patent protection and seeking appropriate legal remedies. And anyone operating in countries where you didn't get patent protection for one reason or another would be unstoppable.

I expect someone out there has already probably tried to make a free or open source game using the "nemesis" mechanic, or even a game explicitly for use outside of the areas where Warner Bros has patent protection, just to prove that they can. And that no one paid any attention because that alone isn't enough to make a game worth playing.

in fact mario's screen scrolling came from pacman

Since when did Pac-Man scroll!?

 

[Quore]

Me see Nintendo getting screwed
Me feel happy

 

[KasaiWolf]

Good, Nintendo's stupidity and ignorance does a lot of harm in the creativity of games and I'm glad they lost this one. Their policies have always been very much absurd.