Patent No. 7545191
- [Patent application date: July 30, 2024]
- [Patent registration date: August 27, 2024]
- Relates to a player character throwing an item at a character in the field, which triggers combat.
Patent No. 7493117
- [Patent application date: February 26, 2024]
- [Patent registration date: May 22, 2024]
- Basically an extension of the above, relating to being able to capture Pokémon in the wild rather than just in combat like previous generations.
Patent No. 7528390
- [Patent application date: March 5, 2024]
- [Patent registration date: July 26, 2024]
- Relating to being able to ride creatures in the open world.
Note that every single one of these patents was filed after palworld was released, and they’re all awfully vague about what they actually cover.
You might look at the dates Pocketpair gave there (which are correct) and think — well, they were filed after, so how can Nintendo sue using those? The answer is complicated. What Pocketpair don’t say, is that these patents are from a parent patent[1] which was registered in 2021 and approved in 2023, meaning it very much does end up applying here to Palworld.
Nintendo: they violated our patents!
Court: which ones?
Nintendo: (scribbling furiously on paper) these ones!
Checks out.
They are all bullshit, but holy fuck, how the hell were they even allowed to register the third one ?
It’s a little more specific than that, like it has something to do with a way they attempted to streamline the process of switching between mounted and on-foot.
But yeah, still bullshit.
How such generic features are even awarded patents is beyond me. None of these are even remotely exclusive to Pokemon or Palworld.
EDIT The grossest thing about this is that these patents were all filed this year, meaning they were filed with the exclusive intention of building a case against Palworld. There really is no level to which Nintendo won’t stoop.
By the third patent: Elden Ring, WoW, Everquest, Neverwinter, SW: The Old Republic, Final Fantasy, and many many others have infringed Nintendo patents. Fuck Nintendo.
HOW DID THEY GET THESE PATENTS APPROVED SO FAST???
I have a patent from a previous job. The initial filing was in 2007. It wasn’t approved until 2010, almost a year after I had moved on to a different employer.
Money. Bribable law makes anything go faster.
#1 is doom. You throw a grenade at an IMP on the field and it starts the fight.
game mechanics aren’t patentable?
They aren’t supposed to be but if you have enough money anything can be patentable, copyrightable, or trademarkable.
