Pocket Pair argues Nintendo patents are ‘invalid’ in Palworld lawsuit

Last year, Nintendo officially filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocket Pair, the studio behind Palworld. Now after months of preparing for a war in the courts, we know a bit more about Pocket Pair's defence, which argues that Nintendo shouldn't have been awarded the patents in question. 

As reported by Games Fray, Pocket Pair is challenging Nintendo's patent applications. Nintendo filed patents for monster-catching mechanics and monster-riding mechanics back in 2024, in the months immediately following Palworld's January 2024 launch. The legal team representing Pocket Pair argues that these patents should not have been granted to Nintendo, as even before Palworld, there were many games on the market using similar mechanics.

The defence argues that titles like Ark: Survival Evolved, Pocket Souls, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy 14, Far Cry 5, Octopath Traveler, Monster Hunter Ultimate and Nintendo's own IP, Pikmin, all exhibit mechanics that could breach Nintendo's newly filed patents.

As all of these games have been out prior to Nintendo's patent filings, the patents Nintendo holds should be invalid, and it is not illegal to infringe on an invalid patent.

Currently it is still early days in the Nintendo v Pocket Pair lawsuit but there should be more updates in the months ahead. Assuming the lawsuit isn't scrapped or settled beforehand, we should get a trial start date this year.

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KitGuru Says: This is something that many gaming experts pointed out last year, when Nintendo's patents were first uncovered. Whether or not the argument holds up in court still remains to be seen. 

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