Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sue Palworld developer Pocketpair
UPDATE: Pocketpair responds, says it's "not been notified" of which patents it's accused of having infringed
Original story: Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair for infringing "multiple patent rights."
The notice was published on Nintendo's website, saying the lawsuit was filed together with The Pokémon Company in the Tokyo District Court on September 18.
The details are scarce at this point, with Nintendo only saying that it's seeking "an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the defendant, infringes multiple patent rights."
It continued: "Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years."
Palworld released to impressive success earlier this year, alongside a big debate on whether the multi-million selling survival game (and its unofficial tagline of 'Pokémon with guns') was infringing on The Pokémon Company's IP.
We talked to legal experts in January about the controversy, who told us what we could learn from the Pokémon vs Palworld debate, and how such disputes are usually resolved. At the time, Richard Hoeg told us: "Just because Nintendo doesn't move against something doesn't mean it's not infringing. If they do, it doesn't automatically make them right." You can read the full article here.
Sony Music Entertainment, Aniplex, and Pocketpair joined forces last July to create a joint venture called Palworld Entertainment, with the aim of continuing Palworld's "global development."
Update: Pocketpair has issued a statement about the situation, acknowledging the lawsuit and saying it "will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement."
It seems like the company has not been further informed about which specific patents it's accused of having infringed upon, saying it's "not been notified of such details."
As part of the statement, Pocketpair apologised to its Palworld players for the "worry or discomfort" caused by the situation, adding that it is "truly unfortunate that [it] will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit."
"However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas," it continued.