Nintendo and The Pokémon Company protect 'valuable' IP by suing Palworld
Patent infringers: Gotta catch 'em all
After nearly nine months of silence, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are officially suing Pocketpair, the developer of monster-catching game Palworld, for numerous patent infringement claims.
As per a statement released on September 19, Nintendo says that "the lawsuit seeks an injunction against the defendants and compensation for damages", alleging that Palworld infringes on several of Pokémon's patents.
"In order to protect the valuable intellectual property that we have built up through many years of hard work, we will continue to take the necessary measures against any infringement of our intellectual property, including our brand," the statement concludes.
This lawsuit comes months after Palworld's debut in January, which saw eight million sales during its early access launch and more than five million sales post-release. The game itself has been dubbed "Pokémon with guns", due to its similarities to the best-selling game franchise, especially between Pocketpair's 'Pals' and Nintendo's 'Pokémon'.
Before the legal battle commenced, Pocketpair's CEO, Takuro Mizobe, approached the similarity claims by stating that the company "had no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies". Despite this, Nintendo issued a statement on the matter and set its intentions to "investigate" any infringement of rights related to Pokémon. While that statement didn't name Palworld or Pocketpair directly, it no doubt left the game developer a touch worried — and now the conclusion of this investigation has resulted in official legal action.
Pokémons or Pals?
If you've been a fan of the third-best-selling game series of all time, then one glimpse of Palworld's monster designs could have you scratching your head. But the designs aren't the only thing that Pals and your favorite Pokémon have in common.
For starters, Palworld is a third-person, open-world survival game. Players can explore a huge world and interact with its animal-like inhabitants, dubbed Pals. There are more than 130 Pals in total, and each of them can be battled in combat, weakened and ultimately captured using a 'Pal Sphere'... seems a little familiar, eh?
Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox.
Here at Tom’s Guide our expert editors are committed to bringing you the best news, reviews and guides to help you stay informed and ahead of the curve!
Once you’ve caught a Pal, you can summon it in combat to assist you or station it at your home base to help with crafting. Plus, you can play with up to four players and explore the world together.
At the time of writing, Pocketpair has yet to respond to the lawsuit filing. If or when that changes, we'll be sure to keep you in the loop.
More from Tom's Guide
Lucy Scotting is a digital content writer for Tom’s Guide in Australia, primarily covering NBN and internet-related news. Lucy started her career writing for HR and staffing industry publications, with articles covering emerging tech, business and finance. In her spare time, Lucy can be found watching sci-fi movies, working on her dystopian fiction novel or hanging out with her dog, Fletcher.