US patent office revokes Nintendo patent central to Palworld lawsuit

Late last year, the US Patent Office opened up a ‘re-examination' of a patent that gave Nintendo ownership over a common videogame mechanic – summoning an NPC to fight for you. Now months later, this process has resulted in the patent being revoked.

Back in 2025, the Japanese patent office rejected Nintendo's application for a patent what would cover monster capturing and throwing mechanics. Initially, a similar patent was granted in the US, but it has now been revoked. As spotted by GamesFray and VGC, the US patent and Trademark Office has now rejected all 26 claims made in the patent plication.

The patent in question here involved summoning characters and making them fight for the player. Obviously, this is a concept central to the Pokémon games, but it is also widely used in other games across multiple genres. Everything from Persona to Dark Souls could theoretically be impacted by Nintendo owning such a patent.

Nintendo filed for these patents in 2025 to bolster its legal case against Palworld, a survival game from indie studio PocketPair, that features Pokémon-like creatures and battles, but with open world survival and building mechanics never before seen in a Pokémon title. The game has far more in common with a title like Ark: Survival Evolved than any mainline Pokémon game.

KitGuru Says: Nintendo is known to be litigious, and it is rare to see the company lose in a court setting.  However, if things continue going this way, it may end up losing the Palworld case. 

Become a Patron!