US Patent Office to ‘re-examine’ crucial Nintendo patent at centre of Palworld lawsuit

Recently, the Japanese patent office rejected Nintendo's application for a patent what would cover monster capturing and throwing mechanics, something that could serve quite the blow to the company's ongoing lawsuit against the creators of Palworld. Now, the US version of this patent, which Nintendo was granted earlier this year, is also in trouble, as the USPTO is now re-examining the patent's validity. 

Nintendo filed for patents covering monster catching, throwing and battle mechanics earlier this year in an effort to leverage those patents against PocketPair, the studio behind Palworld. While Palworld does take some inspiration from Pokémon, it is by and large a very different game to anything GameFreak has ever made. When the patent filings were initially reported, many came out to state that they should not be validated, as the vague language could impact hundreds of games, both new and old, not just Palworld.

As spotted by Gamesfray, the director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), John Squires, has now ordered that Nintendo's recently granted patent be re-examined, as conflict has been found with a previous patent from Konami, who also seemingly has a claim over automatic and manual sub-character summoning and battle mechanics.

This doesn't mean that the patent will automatically be revoked, but in a sensible world, it would be. The patent is worded in such a way that could impact all kinds of games, from Ark: Survival Evolved, to Monster Hunter and many, many more.

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KitGuru Says: While Palworld may have some Pokémon flavour in the form of its monster designs, Nintendo isn't suing over that. Instead, it is suing over mechanics that have existed in many different games for decades. If this is allowed to go ahead, it will hamper a lot of potential future innovation. 

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