Palworld developer is getting sued by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for multiple patent right infringement

Well, it finally happened: after months of studying the situation, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have decided to move ahead with legal action against Palworld, the developers and publisher of 2024′s first viral super-hit Palworld. The survival game with creature collecting and exploitation was a massive success at the start of the year, all while coming under strong criticism for alleged copyright infringement against the Pokémon franchise, but now it appears like the case is moving up to higher authorities than very attentive fans.

As reported by VGC, a lawsuit has been filed in the Tokyo District Court by both Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, two of the three entities behind the Pokémon franchise. The case dictates that both companies are seeking compensation for damages and an injunction against infringement.

The official statement reads: “This lawsuit seeks 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. 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 is officially in trouble

This move to legal action comes very much unannounced, but it’s not a complete surprise. The last thing that was said about the situation was back at the end of January, when The Pokémon Company acknowledge the complaints of many fans and stated that they “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.”

Since then, Pocketpair has continued to work on content updates for Palworld, which while it didn’t maintain the explosive numbers it launched with, has continued to do extremely well throughout its time as an Early Access title.

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