UPDATE (19/09/24, 10:00 AM BST): Pocketpair has issued a statement on the lawsuit filing via Palworld’s official Twitter account. It reads as follows:
“Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement. We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement. At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.
“Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.
“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused. As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.”
It’s actually happening. Palworld developer Pocketpair release has had a lawsuit filed against it by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, with the pair of companies alleging that the game “infringes multiple patent rights”.
If you’re out of the loop, back when Palworld had its initial surge in popularity earlier this year, it attracted allegations of ripping off Pokémon, mostly in relation to its character designs/models. Things even got as far as The Pokémon Company issuing a statement on the matter.
Now, as of September 18, Nintendo and TPC have filed to take legal action against Pocketpair in the Tokyo District Court, as announced via a release on Nintendo’s corporate website. “This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” the release reads.
“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself,” it continues, “to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
VG247 has reached out to Pocketpair for comment.
As mentioned earlier, The Pokémon Company stated back in January that it would “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokemon”. As of June, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe said the company had yet to recieve any behind-the-scenes follow-ups or communications related to that statement.
This latest development comes not long after a Tokyo Game Show listing seemigly hinted that a previously-teased PS5 port of Palworld could be on the way or in line to be officially announced soon, so that’s potentially something that might potentially have played into the suit’s timing.
