Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a lawsuit in Tokyo against Pocketpairthe development study of PalworldThe subject of the lawsuit is the infringement of a registered patent, naturally relating to the Pokémon trademark.
Pocktpair is a Chinese development studio that has been active on the market for a few years, and found success in early 2024 with the launch of Palworld, described by many as a parody of Pokémonso much so that it has been nicknamed “Pokémon with guns”. Launched on January 18, it has sold more than 15 million copies on Steam and surpassed 25 million players within a month (it is included in the Game Pass subscription service).
Investigations concluded
The Pokémon Company stated a few days after Palworld’s release that it would “investigate” a game “released in January 2024” and would “take appropriate action to address any acts that infringe the intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” It did not name Palworld directly, but the subject of the investigation was immediately clear to everyone. It appears that the investigation has now concluded, and that has led to the decision to take legal action.
“The lawsuit seeks an injunctive relief against infringement and damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and published by the defendant, infringes several patents,” Nintendo said announcing the legal battle.
“Nintendo will continue to take any action it deems necessary against any infringement of its intellectual property rightsincluding Nintendo’s own trademark, to protect the intellectual property it has worked hard to develop over the years.”
Pocketpair has stated in the past that its game is more similar to Ark Survival Evolved and Valheim than Pokémon RPGs. After its launch, the company’s CEO, Takuro Mizobe, stated that Palworld had passed its legal review and that no lawsuits had been filed against the team during development.
Palworld is actually very different from the Pokémon games, being a survival game featuring Pals, who can be used in different ways in the gameplay, both friendly and less friendly. The similarity between Pals and Pokémon is still evident.as noted by anyone who has had the opportunity to try the game. We’ll see if the same will be liable to a conviction in court or not.
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