Nintendo, The Pokémon Company Seeking Injunction on Palworld, JPY 5 Million Each in Damages from Pocketpair

Palworld developer Pocketpair has shared details from the patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in September, shedding light on the plaintiffs’ demands. The two companies are seeking an injunction on Palworld, a survival game with monsters that bear alleged similarities to the creatures from the Pokémon franchise. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are also seeking damages from Pocketpair to the tune of over JPY 5 million (roughly Rs. 27.7 lakh).

Nintendo, The Pokémon Company Seek Injunction, Damages

Pocketpair revealed the details of the Palworld lawsuit Friday, listing three specific patents that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company claim the developer has infringed upon.

“The Plaintiffs claim that “Palworld,” released by us on January 19, 2024, infringes upon the following three patents held by the Plaintiffs, and are seeking an injunction against the game and compensation for a portion of the damages incurred between the date of registration of the patents and the date of filing of this lawsuit,” the developer said in a post on its website.

The target patents part of the lawsuit include patent no. 7545191, 7493117 and 7528390. According to the post, all three patents were applied for and registered after the launch of Palworld on January 19, 2024.

According to the developer, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction against Palworld and are each seeking a payment of JPY 5 million plus late payment damages. “We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings,” Pocketpair said.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Palworld maker in September. “It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit,” Pocketpair had said in its response at the time.

Palworld became a breakout hit on Steam and Xbox when it launched in January but attracted plagiarism accusations over its creature designs. The survival game features Pokémon-style animals, or Pals, that can be captured and tamed for combat, traversal and base building in the game’s open world, thus attracting the moniker “Pokémon with Guns.”

Following the launch of the game, The Pokémon Company, which manages the intellectual property rights of Pokémon, said it intended to investigate any alleged instances of copyright infringement in the newly released game. “We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon,” the company had said.