Nintendo’s patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair has not gone Nintendo’s way. Filed in September 2024 in the Tokyo District Court, the case has since been narrowed to cover only outdated versions of the game, key patents behind Nintendo’s strategy have been rejected by patent offices in Japan and the United States, and an IP consultant tracking the case estimates Nintendo’s best-case recovery at roughly $30,000. Palworld’s 1.0 release, scheduled for July 10, 2026, is not covered by the suit at all.
What Nintendo Sued Over
On September 18, 2024, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sued Pocketpair in the Tokyo District Court, seeking an injunction against Palworld’s sale and 10 million yen in damages split between the two plaintiffs, plus late-payment interest.1Nintendo. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company File Lawsuit
Pocketpair later disclosed the three Japanese patents at issue: JP7545191, JP7493117, and JP7528390. Two cover catching and summoning creatures by throwing an object; the third covers a “smooth switching” mechanic for riding creatures in a 3D environment.2Game Developer. Pocketpair Reveals Specific Patents Featured in Nintendo’s Lawsuit Against Palworld All three were filed in 2024, after Palworld’s January 2024 launch, but they are divisional patents tracing back to original applications from December 2021, which gives them an earlier priority date.3Games Fray. Nintendo’s Japanese Patent Lawsuit Against Pocketpair The timing raised eyebrows. Palworld was first announced in June 2021; the original patent application followed six months later.4Häerting. Nintendo vs. Palworld — Caught in the Pokéball Patent
How Pocketpair Fought Back
Pocketpair worked two tracks at once. In court, the developer argued Nintendo’s patents were invalid because they describe basic gameplay mechanics already present in prior titles like ARK: Survival Evolved, Tomb Raider, Zelda, Titanfall 2, and Rune Factory 5, along with player-made mods such as Pixelmon for Minecraft and NukaMon for Fallout 4.5Windows Central. Nintendo’s Palworld Case — Japan Patent Office Rejects Claim Pocketpair also argued the patents amount to “game rules” without technical substance, subject matter patent law was never meant to cover.3Games Fray. Nintendo’s Japanese Patent Lawsuit Against Pocketpair
At the same time, Pocketpair changed the game. In November 2024, patch v0.3.11 removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing a Pal Sphere to a location; Pals now simply appear next to the player.6IGN. Palworld Developer Pocketpair Says It’s Being Forced to Patch the Game In May 2025, patch v0.5.5 replaced the glide-on-a-Pal mechanic with an item-based glider.7Automaton Media. Palworld Lawsuit Narrowed to Older Versions Pocketpair called the changes “precautionary measures” and “compromises” to avoid the risk of an injunction, while continuing to argue the underlying patents were never valid.
Nintendo’s Patents Have Been Rejected
Outside the Tokyo courtroom, Nintendo’s patent position has taken serious hits.
In October 2025, the Japan Patent Office rejected a related Nintendo application (2024-031879) in the same “monster capture” patent family, finding it lacked an inventive step in light of mechanics already present in ARK: Survival Evolved, Monster Hunter 4, Craftopia, and Pokémon GO.8Windows Central. Japan Patent Office Rejects Nintendo Claim
In the United States, Nintendo had obtained U.S. Patent No. 12,403,397 in September 2025, covering the broad concept of summoning a sub-character to fight in either automatic or manual mode.9GosuGamers. Controversial Nintendo Summoning Patent Raises Concerns Two months later, USPTO Director John Squires ordered a re-examination, finding “substantial new questions of patentability” based on prior art that included a 2002 Konami patent and one of Nintendo’s own earlier filings.10Video Games Chronicle. USPTO Director Orders Re-examination of Nintendo Patent
On March 25, 2026, a USPTO examiner issued a 104-page ruling rejecting all 26 claims of the patent as obvious. Four earlier filings, taken in combination, already described what Nintendo claimed to have invented:
- “Taura” (Nintendo, 2019): the core idea of summoning a sub-character to fight alongside a player.
- “Yabe” (Konami, 2002): characters with two distinct battle modes, automatic and manual.
- “Motokura” (Nintendo, 2020): positioning and movement of characters in 3D space.
- “Shimomoto” (Bandai Namco, 2019): logic for determining where a summoned character appears relative to the player.
The examiner offered two separate invalidity theories for each of the 26 claims, meaning either combination would sink the patent on its own.11Games Fray. U.S. Patent Examiner Rejects Nintendo Summon Patent The rejection was non-final, giving Nintendo two months, extendable, to respond or appeal.12Nintendo Life. Nintendo Summon Patent Rejected by US Patent Office
Nintendo also rewrote the language of one of the Japanese patents it asserted in the case, JP-7528390, in July 2025. IP consultant Florian Mueller noted that mid-case amendments of this kind typically signal a litigant fears the patent is at high risk of being invalidated.13IGN. Nintendo Rewrites Patent Mid-Case
Where the Case Stands Now
Pocketpair’s patches did more than avoid an injunction. In November 2025, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company amended their claims to target only older, pre-patch versions of Palworld. The current version, and the 1.0 release scheduled for July 10, 2026, are no longer part of the case.7Automaton Media. Palworld Lawsuit Narrowed to Older Versions
As of June 2026, written pleadings and evidence submissions are complete. A technical briefing is set for October 1, 2026, and the Tokyo District Court is scheduled to issue a preliminary disclosure of its views on November 9, 2026.14Windows Central. Nintendo Faces 0 Percent Chance and $30K Payout
Mueller has assessed that even if Nintendo prevails on the remaining claims about older game versions, damages would top out at roughly 5 million yen, about $30,000. He called that figure “chump change” against Nintendo’s litigation costs, and sees no realistic path to an injunction that would affect Palworld going forward, because the version being sold today no longer uses the mechanics in dispute.15IGN. Nintendo May Only Win $30,000 Payout in Palworld Case
Why the Case Matters Beyond Palworld
The dispute has drawn attention to whether fundamental gameplay mechanics should be patentable at all. The U.S. patent rejected in March 2026 covered something as basic as summoning a character to fight in one of two modes, an idea critics said had been standard in games for decades.16Video Games Chronicle. USPTO Director Orders Re-examination
The case also exposed a gap on the examination side: patent offices have struggled to identify prior art buried in existing video games, and that gap let Nintendo secure patents on mechanics that examiners later acknowledged were already well established.17Games Fray. Nintendo Receives U.S. Patent on Summoning a Character Pocketpair could afford to alter its game and mount a detailed invalidity defense; many smaller studios facing similar claims could not.9GosuGamers. Controversial Nintendo Summoning Patent Raises Concerns
The Tokyo court’s preliminary opinion on November 9, 2026 will indicate how the Japanese case resolves. The commercial outcome is already visible: Palworld reaches 1.0 without an injunction, and Nintendo’s best-case recovery is a fraction of what it has spent trying to obtain it.