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Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, but one lawyer claims his "gut reaction is Nintendo may be reaching."
The lawsuit in question alleges that Palworld "infringes multiple patent rights," and "seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages" on those grounds. Nintendo hasn't publicly revealed what patent rights have allegedly been infringed, and in a new statement released today, Pocketpair also claims it's "unaware of the specific patents," and hasn't been notified of the details.
Responding to Nintendo's news release confirming it has filed a lawsuit, business lawyer Richard Hoeg has weighed in with his own thoughts on the matter. "Probably going to need more specifics before I can comment more completely, but Palworld is such a different type of game from Pokemon, it's hard to imagine what patents (*not* copyrights) might have been even plausibly infringed," Hoeg tweets. "Initial gut reaction is Nintendo may be reaching."
As Hoeg writes, it's important to note that the lawsuit brings alleged patent infringement into question, which is different from copyright. Therefore, the initial controversy surrounding Palworld, when players were pointing out similarities between certain Pal and Pokemon character designs, doesn't seem to be relevant right now. "Patents are for inventions, not art. That's copyright," Hoeg writes further down in the thread. "So, at present they look to be claiming some protection in the game of Pokemon being infringed. It's opaque right now."
Of course, there's really not a lot of information available right now to get the full picture, especially if Pocketpair itself is also unaware of certain details. The Palworld studio says it "will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas."
