Nintendo vs. Palworld: 'Killer Patent' May Be About the Mechanic of Catching Pokémon

ign.com:

Following Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s shock patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, and Pocketpair’s subsequent statement claiming it had no idea which patents it’s accused of infringing, analysts believe they’ve worked out which patent Nintendo plans to use to win its case.

Kiyoshi Kurihara, a Japanese patent attorney and consultant on intellectual property spoke to Yahoo Japan on the lawsuit (translated by Automaton), and pointed to a “killer patent” that revolves around the mechanic of catching Pokémon itself.

“It seems like it would be hard to avoid if you want to make a Pokémon-like game, and it’s easy to infringe if you’re not careful,” Kurihara is quoted as saying.

In general gameplay terms, Palworld’s survival and crafting mechanics are more like those of Ark than Pokémon. After Palworld’s huge launch earlier this year, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of "ripping off" Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have gone down the patent route.

Kurihara identified four divisional patent applications that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company jointly registered after Palworld’s launch in January. A divisional patent contains isolated content from an already registered parent patent. The patent Kurihara believes is the focus here, Patent No. 7545191, describes, per Automaton:

Patent No. 7545191, alongside three related others, were only approved in August, which might help explain why it’s taken this long for Nintendo to announce its lawsuit. The parent patent of the four divisional patents was registered in December 2021, and thus, Automaton points out, are legally effective against Palworld, which launched January 2024. Nintendo has yet to officially reveal the patents it alleges Pocketpair has infringed.

It is worth noting that Palworld does include a mechanic that involves throwing a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) at