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

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 are suing Pocketpair in Japan, claiming Palworld steals key mechanics from Pokémon—think capturing creatures with a ball and even gliding on them. Palworld exploded onto Steam and Xbox this January, selling 8 million copies in a week, so Nintendo sprang into action, filing three divisional patents in 2024 (capture, release and a ride mechanic) based on original 2021 filings.

Pocketpair’s been tweaking Palworld to dodge the lawsuit—removing the Pokéball-style summon and swapping glider Pals for glider gear—while Nintendo just rewrote its ride-mechanic patent mid-trial, adding an emphatic “even when” clause. That move’s legal but rare, hinting Nintendo’s worried the original wording might get tossed. Meanwhile, both sides are duking it out over infringement vs. patent validity, and Palworld keeps evolving with new updates.