Nintendo may have strengthened specific patents in order to make its Palworld lawsuit more legally robust.
Analysis from a Japanese legal firm specializing in patent law (via Automaton Media) concludes that "patents established before the release of Palworld did not necessarily correspond to the mechanics of Palworld," while patents submitted after Palworld launched into early access earlier this year "worked to improve this."
Nintendo owns two groups of patents that the analysis suggests are those it will argue Palworld developer Pocketpair has infringed on. Both groups relate specifically to Pokemon: Legends Arceus, and focus on throwing balls to capture creatures in an open world, and the ability to use a kind of mount in order to get around the world on a creatures' back.
Of the eight patents and two pending patents in those two groups, however, the analysis states that only three - one from the first group and two from the second - were registered before Palworld's release. That suggests that Nintendo could have played Palworld, identified any similarities, and then focused in on specific areas in order to increase the strength of its claim.
That suggestions lines up with that of one industry analyst who claimed that Nintendo had the wherewithal to "have sued half the gaming industry back in 2017." The volume of patents that the company owns means that it has the right to pick and choose which ones it wants to enforce at a given time, and having essentially given up on attempting to enforce any copyright claims, it's made the decision to go after Pocketpair because "it felt threatened" by Palworld's expansion.
Sadly, it might be some time before we get a final verdict, as the lawsuit is "more likely" to take 5 years to conclude.
