"Nintendo may be reaching" in its Palworld lawsuit, according to a lawyer who says it's "hard to imagine what patents" the survival game could have infringed upon

Palworld
(Image credit: Pocketpair)

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."

Palworld dev hopes to "help more indie devs" after the survival game's runaway success: "We were in the same position only a year ago until Palworld changed our lives."

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.