When Palworld debuted earlier this year, its similarities to Pokemon led observers to expect a legal response from Nintendo. That finally happened in September, when Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair in Japanese court alleging infringement on the company’s patents. Now, Pocketpair has shared details about which patents Nintendo’s claims are based on, and how much money the company wants out of the case.
Pocketpair posted a summery of the information, which reveals that the three Japanese patents in question are No. 7545191, No. 7493117, and No. 7528390. All three patents were registered earlier this year. Instead of going after Palworld for its Pokemon-like creatures, the patents appear to be centered around the mechanics of throwing a ball at characters, riding characters in the game, and shooting at targets.
The lawsuit is asking for an injunction against Palworld, plus 5 million yen (which is roughly just under $33,000 in American dollars) payments–with late fees–to both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. The details of the lawsuit largely lineup with the predictions made earlier this year by Kantan Games CEO and video game analyst Serkan Toto. At the time, Toto believed that Nintendo’s allegedly infringed-upon patents would be “very technical” in nature, and that Pocketpair will ultimately be forced to make a deal with Nintendo.
So far, Poketpair hasn’t slowed down its ambitions for Palworld. The game was recently ported to PlayStation 5, and it has even been released in Japan despite the ongoing lawsuit. Poketpair has also struck a deal with Sony to form Palworld Entertainment, which will expand the franchise and create new merchandise and licensing opportunities.
