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NEWS: Nintendo, The Pokémon Company Sue Palworld Game Developer Pocketpair


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Nate148



Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 509
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 7:35 pm Reply with quote
Well boys its on now
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 13715
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 7:38 pm Reply with quote
Felt kind of inevitable.
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juaifan



Joined: 20 Mar 2021
Posts: 145
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 7:47 pm Reply with quote
I've seen people complain about the Pal designs but that's an issue of copyright IP and not patent. Patent lawsuit would be things like "game mechanic of specific characters being more/less likely to appear based on the time of day" so I'm curious what their actual basis for a lawsuit is.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2370
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 7:49 pm Reply with quote
Rip them in half, Nintendo.
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AsleepBySunset



Joined: 07 Sep 2022
Posts: 243
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 7:54 pm Reply with quote
the designs in that promo pic do sort of look like they photobashed pokemon together... I'd be inclined to defend the designers if they weren't ai bros, I despise, I absolutely loathe when people make egregious "ripoff" claims, like people claiming virtual pet game a ripped off virtual pet game b because both have a pet which is a bipedal crocodile (totally ridiculous, you can't own the concept of crocodiles on two legs)... But the palworld devs probably bashed everything together with ai so fudge 'em.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 2048
Location: australia
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:08 pm Reply with quote
I recall seeing pictures where it seemed like palworld had straight ripped skeletons from Pokemon, so when you have that plus a bunch of suspiciously inspired designs it feels like the plausible deniability drops a lot...
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Uchay



Joined: 27 Nov 2016
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:15 pm Reply with quote
You know, considering how long it took for Nintendo and Pokemon Company to come out with a lawsuit, they were probably stewing on this for a long time before making sure this is a battle they can win.

We still need to see how this turns out, but Nintendo's legal team is probably confident, which doesn't bode well for Pocketpair. Palworld devs had to be expecting a copyright infringement lawsuit at some point, right?

Not sure I like the fact it's about patent infringement, though--this would set some precedents if Nintendo wins.


Last edited by Uchay on Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:21 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Wizardizar



Joined: 24 Jun 2024
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:17 pm Reply with quote
I dunno why people keep bringing up "asset ripoff"? True or not, this is not what the suit is about. It's patent infringement, and honestly I don't know if that will hold in court. There's a lot of precedent in the industry protecting stuff like "game mechanics" from being patented, dating back to FPSs coming out.

If anything I sure would hate for that precedent to be set here by Nintendo winning.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2341
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:25 pm Reply with quote
I am not surprised the company run by AI bros that has a history of ripping off games by smaller companies is finally having a FAFO moment.
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Florete



Joined: 21 Jan 2018
Posts: 381
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:26 pm Reply with quote
Much as I love Nintendo...I hope they spectacularly lose this one.
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Firefly251



Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Posts: 368
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:37 pm Reply with quote
I REALLY hope someone brings this up at the court hearing Smile
https://i.redd.it/txao2do8vyec1.jpeg showing how pokemon gen 1 looked vs dragon quest (which came out yrs before pkmn)

pokemon copied Dragon Quest monster design and made small edits and palworld does same and they see it as an issue?
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Uchay



Joined: 27 Nov 2016
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 8:50 pm Reply with quote
I mean, this isn't a copyright infringement, this is a patent infringement. Nintendo isn't suing Pocketpairs over the designs, it's suing them over at least one game mechanic they have patented.

Considering Nintendo hasn't lost a lawsuit against other companies in Japanese courts ever since the NES era and they took their time to cook up this case and seem confident, I don't think it's going to be something as broad as "monster capture mechanic", either. It's probably going to be narrow enough to be accepted in court, but broad enough that Palworld happened to replicate.

Also, let's be honest---Nintendo doesn't even need to win the lawsuit to succeed. All they need to do is to keep the process going until pocketpair goes under from court fees. I do think Nintendo intends to win this, though.
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Nigel Planter



Joined: 09 Jan 2023
Posts: 106
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:06 pm Reply with quote
Uchay wrote:
Also, let's be honest---Nintendo doesn't even need to win the lawsuit to succeed. All they need to do is to keep the process going until pocketpair goes under from court fees. I do think Nintendo intends to win this, though.


I see people saying it's for the 'storage medium' style of gameplay with the balls storing monsters but according to the patent it was filed on May 2nd 2024 which would mean they filed the patent after Palworld came out. That just comes off like patent trolling to me.

If this is the case then It seems like an extremely petty thing on Nintendo's part if they were that jealous of Palworld's success.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2341
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:13 pm Reply with quote
Uchay wrote:
I mean, this isn't a copyright infringement, this is a patent infringement. Nintendo isn't suing Pocketpairs over the designs, it's suing them over at least one game mechanic they have patented.

Considering Nintendo hasn't lost a lawsuit against other companies in Japanese courts ever since the NES era and they took their time to cook up this case and seem confident, I don't think it's going to be something as broad as "monster capture mechanic", either. It's probably going to be narrow enough to be accepted in court, but broad enough that Palworld happened to replicate.

Also, let's be honest---Nintendo doesn't even need to win the lawsuit to succeed. All they need to do is to keep the process going until pocketpair goes under from court fees. I do think Nintendo intends to win this, though.

And even if it was, there's mountains of difference between a different spin off creatures inspired by folklore, myth, or even D&D and just blatantly ripping off someone's designs. Even if Game Freak took inspiration from Toriyama's monster designs it's not like they traced the sprites, added one or two differences and tried to sell it as unique.
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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 2101
PostPosted: Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:15 pm Reply with quote
This might get messy.
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