Nintendo re-wrote its patent, in the middle of its lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair

Nintendo Rewrites Patent Mid-Case in Ongoing Lawsuit Against Palworld Dev Pocketpair — but Why? - IGN

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s patent infringement lawsuit in Japan against Pocketpair’s open-world survival game Palworld is ongoing. In the latest development, Nintendo has reworded one of the patents in the case, but what led up to this bizarre move?

ign.com

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have hit Pocketpair with a patent-infringement lawsuit in Japan, claiming Palworld’s creature-capture and ride mechanics borrow too heavily from Pokémon tech. Palworld exploded in early 2024—8 million copies sold in six days and over 25 million players in a month—spawning “Pokémon with guns” comparisons that apparently spurred Nintendo to file fresh divisional patents aimed squarely at the game’s ball-throwing “Pal Spheres” and glider-riding Pals.

Pocketpair’s defense has been the classic three-pronged play: deny infringement, challenge patent validity, and tweak Palworld’s design—selling Pals on-demand instead of tossing spheres and swapping actual gliding Pals for buff-granting equipment. In November 2024 Nintendo even rewrote its ride-mechanic patent mid-case (adding an emphatic “even when” clause) to shore up a claim that might otherwise be invalidated. The dust hasn’t settled yet, and Palworld keeps evolving with new features (hello, Terraria crossover) as the legal battle rages on.