Nintendo Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Palworld: Comparing Japanese and Global Responses

On September 19, 2024, Nintendo announced that it has filed a lawsuit against game developer Pocket Pair Inc. (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo) jointly with Pokémon Inc. for infringement of multiple patents in Palworld.

Palworld is an open world survival crafting monster raising game distributed on the PC game distribution platform Steam.

Since the early access version of the game was released on January 19, 2023, there have been many comments on social networking sites that the game resembles Pokémon.

In this article, I, a resident of Japan, will report on how the game in question now, Palworld, has been reported in Japan and what many people are saying about it on Japanese social media.

Reference : "What is Pal World? What is the price and which company is the developer?"Minna no Rakuraku Magazine")

Nintendo and Pokémon Inc. jointly sued the developer, Pocketpair

On September 19, 2024, Nintendo issued the following statement on the announcement page of its official website.

Nintendo Ltd. and Pokémon Inc. have jointly filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against the game developer Pocketpair Inc. (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo), alleging that the game “Palworld” infringes multiple patent rights.

Filing of Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Pocketpair, Inc.

Nintendo Co., Ltd. and Pokémon Co., Ltd. jointly filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair Inc. in the Tokyo District Court on September 18, 2024.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that the game “Palworld” developed and sold by the defendant infringes multiple patent rights.

In order to protect our valuable intellectual property that we have built up over the years, we will continue to take necessary measures against any infringement of our intellectual property, including our brands.

(Citation:Nintendo's official website)

After this statement was released, various media covered the issue, with “Palworld” and “Pocketpair” coming in first and fourth on the Japanese X (formerly Twitter) trends, It became a major topic of conversation.

[Nintendo HP] News Release "Regarding the Filing of a Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Pocket Pair, Inc.https://t.co/VmxFKYyV5g

- Nintendo Corporation (Corporate Communications & Investor Relations) (@NintendoCoLtd) September 18, 2024

What is the reaction on Japanese social media?

Japanese media only reported the fact that “Nintendo and Pokémon have filed a lawsuit,” and few media explicitly blamed the developer, Pocketpair Inc.

However, the reactions on Japanese social media have been critical of Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, since immediately after the lawsuit was filed, many people supported the Nintendo and Pokémon with many posts like “Nintendo finally sued Pocketpair for Palworld,” and “We hope that Pocketpair will be punished.

I would like to see all the staff members of Pal World's Pocket Pair banned from the game industry for good, because their ethical standards are so dead. I want all the staff to be banned from the game industry forever. pic.twitter.com/O1skaEMOri

- RBN (@robin_badguy) September 19, 2024

In addition, since Nintendo's strength in past patent lawsuits is well known among game enthusiasts, there were many comments such as “Nintendo's legal department is said to be the strongest, so they must think they can win” and “[Sad news] Pocketpair, the strongest Nintendo legal department in history, has been taken on as an enemy." Since Nintendo has made a move, many users predicted that the lawsuit would end in Nintendo's favor.

Sad news: Pocket Bear makes enemies with the most powerful Nintendo legal department in history.

No more death flags. It seems to be done by the patent person who can surely finish it off. In the hero animation, it is completely in the motion of a special move.

>Nintendo and Pokémon sued "Pal World" Pocket Pair for patent infringement "infringing on multiple patent rights." pic.twitter.com/6q3bMLiN1Y

- Mr. Samurai (@ZanEngineer) September 19, 2024

Why the difference in reactions between Japan and other countries?

Looking at X (formerly Twitter), there are many supportive and defensive comments from overseas users in response to Palworld's official X statement, but in Japan, there are fewer defensive comments and more critical comments against the developer, a difference in reaction.

Regarding the Lawsuit

Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement.

We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.

At this moment, we are unaware...

- Palworld (@Palworld_EN) September 19, 2024

There are two possible reasons for the difference in reactions between Japan and overseas.

Reason 1: Nintendo is perceived as being tolerant

One is that in Japan, in looking at cases where Nintendo has sued for patent infringement in the past, a certain number of users have the image that "Nintendo is tolerant of copyrights and patent rights" or "Nintendo is tolerant of piracy, but will not tolerate those who try to do licensing business using the IP they have taken. The fact that a certain number of users have an image that "Nintendo is tolerant of copyright and patent infringement" and "Nintendo is tolerant of piracy, but will not tolerate those who try to do licensing business using its IP" is an influence.

Although Nintendo has 130 game patents, ranging from "Cross Keys" to "Charge" to "Sleep Function," the company is making the basic technology available free of charge for the development of the gaming industry, "We are basically making them available free of charge for the development of the game industry. However, when a company tries to imitate the functionality and obtain a license, or when a company tries to gain an exclusive profit, they file a lawsuit for patent rights.

I have the impression that "being sued by Nintendo" = "a case where there is enough reason to be sued, or a case where they went too far."

I saw a conspiracy theory post saying "Nintendo is trying to destroy titles they don't like with patents that have a wide range of hit detection! I saw a conspiracy theory post that said "Nintendo is trying to shut down titles they don't like with their patents for wider hit detection!", but Nintendo is rather tolerant and didn't wave their patents over the cross keys or shot controls in many golf games. ...... Like Coloplast, they are suing because they have gone too far with their antics. ......

- Kita Homura Kita Mura @Kalamazoo will be next (@kita_ho_mura) September 19, 2024

The one where Nintendo is tolerant of piracy, but will not tolerate anyone who tries to use the IP they have taken to do licensing business.
I'm sure the reason why they are OK with the bij, system clipping is because they want to contribute to the development of the game industry as a whole, and never for the sake of exclusivity.

- NN (@minua_nukuttaa) September 19, 2024

In fact, some Japanese users believe that in July 2024, Pocket Pair Inc. in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Inc. and Aniplex Inc. to promote Pal World's licensing business in Japan and abroad, "Inc. Many believe that the establishment of "Pal World Entertainment" may have triggered the lawsuit.

I don't think it's because they don't like the fact that games similar in appearance are selling well that they want to sue, but rather because PAL side got carried away and started to develop merchandise and rights and do other naughty things. It was the same with White Cat.

Both Nintendo and Pokémon are quite forgiving as long as you don't cross the line.

It's practically the onesie of the week. https://t.co/nljF9KNko9

- Kellogg (@clockworkfrog17) September 19, 2024

Reason 2: Lack of respect on the part of Pocketpair Inc.

Another reason for the large number of critical reactions to the developer Pocket Pair in Japan is the "lack of respect" for existing games, including Pokémon, on the part of Pocket Pair, which has come under fire in the past.

Even before this lawsuit was revealed, some people had been calling Takuro Mizobe, the representative of Pocket Pair, Inc. on X (formerly Twitter) in the past, calling the Switch "shitty hardware" and quoting an AI-generated character, " I don't know which one is the Pokémon," and that he had no respect for the creators of the game.

I'm not a Nintendo follower, but I was disgusted by the CEO calling the Switch a piece of shit hardware, using AI to say "I don't know which one is Pokémon", and other actions and behaviors that I don't think are typical of someone involved in game making, and I hope Nintendo continues to crush Pal World. I hope that Nintendo will crush Pal World as it is. pic.twitter.com/28rl6WBMSz

- Kino the Traveler (@TripleScarlet) September 19, 2024

You have long been questioned about your attitude toward original creators and existing games, which led to widespread criticism.

The use of “indie games” as the subject of the lawsuit further aroused animosity

Furthermore, the statement issued by Pocket Pair after the fact of the lawsuit was discovered also resulted in the antipathy of Japanese users.

The following are the problematic sections.

We are a small indie game development company based in Tokyo.
Our goal is to always continue to create fun games. This goal will remain unchanged and we will continue to develop games to bring joy to as many gamers as possible.

We are very sorry that this lawsuit may force us to spend more time on issues other than game development, but we will do our best for our fans and to ensure that indie game developers are not stifled and atrophied by the freedom of thought.

(Citation:Pocket Pair, Inc. Official X)

Although the above gives the impression that Pocket Pair Inc. is a representative of indie games, it was pointed out that Pocket Pair Inc. is not a small indie game company in the first place, and that not all indie game developers imitate the company, which led to criticism from indie game developers themselves. Some indie game developers have also criticized the company.

It's pretty outrageous to spend a billion dollars making a game and call it indie.

In a way, I think it's a little bit terrible because again here we say we are indie, or we are convinced that we are indie. https://t.co/W751kYwAn4

- AI Network Technology (@AINetworkTech) September 19, 2024

As you say, "Nintendo may be preventing indie developers from being free to think freely."

Nintendo sponsors IDC and
He has taken up a number of games on indie world.
We are taking an aggressive stance on indie

with a roundabout way of putting things
And it's not a good idea to label Nintendo.
It's not good to represent the indies. https://t.co/ukUzw050BR

- Takapon (@Takapon_vo_) September 19, 2024

I don't mean to sound naive, but as a small-scale (individual) indie game developer who pays the utmost respect to the predecessors who created the current game industry, I don't feel good about being treated as one of the same people without permission.

- yuta (@yyuta342) September 19, 2024

In fact, with Pal World's production cost estimated at 1 billion yen and sales of nearly 70 billion yen, many people may feel uncomfortable about being called a "small indie game development company.

Many have pointed out that the company is shifting the blame to the "major game companies" versus "indie game developers" storyline. As a result, this statement has resulted in an increase in criticism.

How will they fight against Nintendo, which is proved to be nearly unbeatable in court, remains to be seen

Thus, the "Pal World" patent infringement lawsuit became a major topic of discussion in Japan.

While many people overseas have made defensive comments, many in Japan have pointed out problems on the part of the developer, Pocket Pair, Inc. as seen in Nintendo's past patent lawsuits.

We can't wait to see how Pal World will affect future game development.