Took them a while. But like clockwork, Nintendo never misses a chance to be the villains.
Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, Inc.
Submitted 2 months ago by hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works to games@lemmy.world
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2024/240919.html
Comments
Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 2 months ago
They had to wait for PalWorld to sell a lot and make a lot of money so they can financially ruin these people instead of just telling them “don’t do that.”
Literally Comic-Book Villain behavior.
Asafum@feddit.nl 2 months ago
They had to wait for PalWorld to sell a lot and make a lot of money so they can
financially ruin these people instead of just telling them “don’t do that."make themselves a lot of money by doing nothing but make a lawsuit."
GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Doesn’t matter to them, when millions line up to see the next wacky thing Mario is up to
hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
We should play a game of guessing which patent(s) they’re gonna try to nail Palworld for infringement with.
SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Half of those patents read like if they use vague enough language to justify patenting how computers work.
halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Welcome to Software Patents 101.
testuserpleaseupvote@lemmy.world 2 months ago
How can they let companies file such broad, vague patents for mechanics that have existed since forever? For example, 20240286040, is just what flying mounts have done in WoW since 2007 or even the flying cap in Mario 64 ffs. There are probably other earlier examples, but it goes to show that it’s just noise to monopolize innovation and scare other devs.
msgomez06@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Long story short, the claims get much longer and restrictive through the application process. The example you asked about is currently undergoing a non-final rejection, and the claims will get much more restrictive in further iterations (assuming that the application has actual merit somewhere in the original dependent claims)
You can check the application history here: Global Dossier
ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
My guess is the “Pokemon Box Storage” system since palworld stores pals in a palbox.
radix@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Nintendo patents video game inventory system.
Not the onion.
(Not a patent lawyer, and I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but come on)
Shadow@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Is that the wrong link? This seems totally unrelated to Pokemon in boxes, and is more about multi console character storage systems.
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 months ago
These can’t be real, they read like they were generated by an AI prompt.
testuserpleaseupvote@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Well, it makes me think that AI training was probably biased towards legal drivel like this, since it’s public facing, professional and probably even translated in multiple languages.
The student got so good that people think the teacher is imitating it.
Donjuanme@lemmy.world 2 months ago
No, that’s the pal-world-monster arts.
lowleveldata@programming.dev 2 months ago
Those are just abstract if I’m not mistaken. There should be more detailed specifications.
june@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Since this was filed in Japan, it would have to be parents Nintendo own in Japan that are infringed and those don’t necessarily perfectly match those in the US
bitwolf@lemmy.one 2 months ago
I’m sorry who in their right mind signed off on this patent
NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM HAVING STORED THEREIN GAME PROGRAM, GAME SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD
svtdragon@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think that’s setting the context for the claims they make, not a claim in itself.
Tikiporch@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Bad move by Nintendo. This game was on track to be forgotten. Pocketpair forgot about it months ago, but the players were starting to catch on to that. Now there will be a resurgence of interest.
suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
This game was on track to be forgotten
Game is just outside the top 50 on steam and had a major content release at the end of June. This ‘game is dying’-because-it-didn’t-indefinitely sustain-player-counts-in-the-top-10 meme is dumb as hell.
Asafum@feddit.nl 2 months ago
It’s a pocketpair thing though as far as “abandoning” a game. As a craftopia player I know all too well how they start off and then drag their feet with minimal input after a certain time. It’s one thing I was worried about with palworld before it even came out. :/
PunchingWood@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Well statistically speaking like only 1% of their peak player count at launch was still playing the game.
It doesn’t do bad on the top ranking out of all games on Steam, but it didn’t do great anymore either.
ludicolo@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Nah all that gamer malice will be dropped at the tip if a hat with a switch 2 announcement sadly. Pocketpair will be bled of money into bankruptcy and nintendo will win.
it is morally right to pirate nintendo games.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Sony is a shareholder and Microsoft has also supportted PocketPair, it will be interesting to see how that works out with Nintendo.
Takumidesh@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The steam deck didn’t exist when the switch came out, it innovated and filled a niche that turned out to be a severely underserved segment of the gaming market.
Nintendo struck gold with the switch, and a ‘switch 2’ likely isn’t going to cut it.
It’s not like Nintendo is infallible, remember the console before the switch was the Wii u.
HelluvaKick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
xavier666@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Haven’t seen this meme for a while.
PunchingWood@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It took a while to catch up
GaMEChld@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Congrats Nintendo, I’m done with you. SNES, Gameboy, N64, GameCube, Wii, Switch, and now done for good. Cantankerous old dinosaur of a company that has lost touch with the world.
MajorHavoc@programming.dev 2 months ago
Yeah. I love their games and looked their hardware, but I just can’t morally justify sending money into Nintendo anymore.
kuneho@lemmy.world 2 months ago
adieu
JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Had to wait until no one gave a shit about Palworld anymore
RxBrad@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Wait until they make all the money that was to be made on their game.
Then yoink all of that money.
JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That and it also would have been a lot more bad press for Nintendo had they taken action when the game was first popular
Not that Nintendo’s legal team has ever had an issue with bad press
JiveTurkey@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Fuck you Nintendo.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 months ago
So like…no mention of which patents?
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 2 months ago
They’re just gonna wing it and hope they have something.
JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I initially assumed they were referring to the Pokemon franchise but I don’t think that’s related to patents? Maybe it’s a regional thing?
viking@infosec.pub 2 months ago
You can’t patent certain game mechanics. Would have to be an actual piece of code that was replicated.
tee9000@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Copyright is bullshit! Fuck nintendo!
Scrolls to ai related lemmy post*
Copyright is sacred! Fuck openai!
Schmoo@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
At the root of this cognitive dissonance is who benefits and who doesn’t. Copyright law is selectively applied in a way that protects the powerful and exploits the powerless. In a capitalist economy copyright is meant to protect people’s livelihoods by ensuring they are compensated for their labor, but due to the power imbalance inherent to capitalism it is instead used only to protect the interests of capital. The fact that AI companies are granted full impunity to violate the copyright of millions is evidence that copyright law is ineffective at the task for which it was purportedly created.
skulbuny@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
In a capitalist economy copyright is meant to protect people’s livelihoods by ensuring they are compensated for their labor
Whose propaganda did you stick down blindly? Copyright is meant to foster and improve the commons and public domain, and only that.
tee9000@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Its just unprecedented terroritory and the cutting edge of technology is always at odds with the slower justice system. Not taking sides here but the only entities that are on the cutting edge of tech innovation are generally always going to be tech corporations.
mightyfoolish@lemmy.world 2 months ago
We’re saltly because all of these rich people truly got to skirt copyright laws while regular people got in trouble for “digesting the same digital bits.” They even get to resell any work that has been processed and mixed with other works as long as it comes from their AI…
sumguyonline@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Stop buying Nintendo. They can’t create quality new IP’s, just rehashes over and over, at this point she ain’t got a peach, bowser mashed it into a pie, and Mario’s eating it for breakfast, lunch, an after dinner snack.
celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
You lost me in the second half.
AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 2 months ago
The problem is they’re such a large and recognizable company that they could probably switch to making and selling malware and everyone would still buy it without thinking twice. Humanity is full of idiots.
p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Fuck nintendo. I really hope this blows up in their face like their stupid fucking “King Kong is dk” lawsuit. Fucking bullies. The irony that they blatantly stole the designs of pokemon from dragon quest but are butthurt at palworld for pAtEnT vIoLaTiOn is gross. So glad I just pirate their shit.
grim@szmer.info 2 months ago
Wasn’t universal the plaintiff in the king kong case?
p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yup, my bad. Stoll, ficl nintendo
jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Only surprise here is “Why did it take so long?”
Shadow@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Gotta wait until palworld has made a bucket of money for Nintendo to point at, claim damages, then try to take.
SlippiHUD@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s kinda surprising they didn’t sue over the much less legally grey IP infringements.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Since this is over patent and not copyright, wouldn’t this have to be about patents filed after the year 2003 and before 2024? AFAIK, patents don’t get extended and cannot be re-filed, and Pokemon has existed since the 1990s, where a lot of its patents would have been created. Unless for some reason Nintendo delayed filing the patents for more than 5-10 years but I don’t know that patents are allowed to have such a time gap between publication and filing or not. Perhaps Japan has different patent laws, their laws notoriously favor businesses so I wouldn’t be surprised.
Asditionally, at least in the USA, some things like gameplay elements cannot be patented if they are necessary for the genre of the product. For example, a first person camera, guns, ahooting, etc. are not elements that can be patented as they are necessary for FPS games in general, but some kind of specitic new technology like the way Doom draws its 3D world could be patented.
For a Creature Catcher game like PalWorld, devices (very vague and generic term that legally should not be patentable because it is too generic BTW) to catch, store, and deploy creatures is necessary to the genre. Unless it is specifically code or the same exact way that both PalWorld and PokeMon function, I do not see how Nintendo thinks they can win other than by bankrupting their opposition like usual.
Really hope this one turns out like Lewis Galoob Toys Inc v Nintendo of America, but the Japan version.
testuserpleaseupvote@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That’s some Tauros-shit (sue me). I hope the Japanese legal system can see that.
AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 2 months ago
It’ll be hard to see that when their vision will be blocked by stacks of yen.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 2 months ago
So… Um… If Nintendo patented elements of Pokemon (we don’t know what the patents are yet), then… Why is TemTem allowed to live? TemTem is literally one-to-one Pokemon, all but in name.
If, somehow, TemTem isn’t in violation of Nintendo’s patents, despite just being Pokemon made by someone else, then I’m very curious what Nintendo’s patent actually is.
Could it be the capture ball? TemTem uses cards. Palworld uses balls like Pokemon. Did Nintendo patent the idea of capturing creatures inside of balls, specifically? Is that why Nintendo never went after TemTem?
isyasad@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’ve never heard of TemTem before and plugging it into Google Trends, it looks like it’s not even comparable to Palworld. It’s still somewhat big, looks like 500,000 copies sold. But still doesn’t really compare to what appears to be nearly 20 million Palworld players.
Companies lose rights to protect their IP if they don’t protect it themselves, so it may be in their best interest to go after the big competitors and pretend they’ve never heard of TemTem.bigmclargehuge@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I would love to see a Palworld update that changes the balls to cubes. Same animations and effects, same textures, just stretched over a cube.
TriflingToad@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I like how they go after pokemon with guns and not that one game that popped up on the steam home page (I disabled NSFW tags) that’s literally just 2d Pokemon but if you beat the trainer you fuck them.
FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I will continue to never give Nintendo any of my money on account of their litigiousness.
celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Are the SMT games not on Nintendo’s radar? Like, does Id get to sue anyone who makes a FPS?
lowleveldata@programming.dev 2 months ago
Didn’t they like own a shit ton of patents? Which one are we talking about?
ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Unsurprising. Flew a little too close to the sun there fellas.
Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Nintendo files suit against a Pocketpair of deez nuts.
BigBenis@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Obligatory fuck Nintendo!
mesamunefire@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I wonder if they are going to go after the monster tamer genre as a whole ar some point. I can see them going after tem tem, coromon, nextmon, etc…
TeoTwawki@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Reminder that Nintendo is to Japan as Disney is to the USA.
We can only speculate what patents are involved, might be legit might not but it doesn’t have to be legit and the actual patent they ibtained could be nonsense, they just have to power to bend someine over a chair because they felt like it.
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Anybody who’s played palworld knows the game is nothing like pokemon. What’s next, are they going to claim they are the only company who can make games with 4 legged animals?
june@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
They said patent violations, not copyright, so it is about some sort of mechanic or system and not the pals or any specific designs. I’m guessing the thrown ball capture system, since it seems no other developers have published anything using that specifically.
Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 2 months ago
World of Final Fantasy is as close to a Pokemon rip off as you can get, and they didn’t get sued.
RogueAozame@programming.dev 2 months ago
They shouldnt be able to sue for that cause a patent only lasts for 20 years in Japan. I saw some guesses that there might be a patent for one of their legends games that they are suing for.
p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Actually ARK does this with cryopods.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 months ago
World of Warcraft’s pet capture system was actually very similar to Pokemon, including better traps with better chances of success.
GuillaumeGus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
I’m sorry, it’s mostly humanoid furries now with the starter Pokémon…
Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I don’t understand. Everyone, literally EVERYONE was calling this game pokemon with guns when it released, so why are people mad that the makers of pokemon are suing? We all saw it from the start
Croquette@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
The comparison is valid, but doesn’t mean it infringes on any patent.
Otherwise, FromSoftware would sue the shit out of every soulslike out there.
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Just because it has a resemblance to pokemon doesn’t make it pokemon. The gameplay is completely different.
chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Lots of games are also called Roguelike. Based off a game called Rogue. The makers of Rogue do not get to sue the makers of Hades.
Pets that fight for you, including being able to store them for portable carry has been done by many other games, including Ark. In fact, playing Palworld made me compare it more to Ark than Pokemon: base building, automation, catching dinos/animals/monsters of different varieties for different uses. Some can fly, some run, some can be used as parachutes. Some help automate actions at base. There is a tech tree unlocked by leveling, starting with primitive weapons and moving on to guns and higher caliber guns. Blueprints are common in ark for higher quality crafts to build at, you guessed it, crafting benches.
Collecting wood, stone, metals, etc. Also the animal assistants can help there too, but only certain ones. Also, Ark has cryopods for storing your animals/dinosaurs. You even throw em to release.
If they had exactly Pikachu or something it’s one thing, but similar games are just part of the business.
PunchingWood@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think it’s understandable why they sue them, it’s just horrible business practice because Nintendo is too lazy to actually innovate and do something creative for a change, instead of sitting on franchises like that and do fuck all with it, only releasing repetitive piss-poor games based on the exact same concept they invented like 30+ years ago.
The problem is people will still buy Pokemon, even if they’re absolute garbage games. So Nintendo won’t change it either.
PunchingWood@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I played it and I felt like it borrowed a lot of elements from Pokemon. It wasn’t Pokemon, but you can’t deny it took like 90% of their inspiration from Pokemon and then added guns to it.
towerful@programming.dev 2 months ago
That’s like any FPS game ripping off any other FPS game.
Fight, capture, tame, train, breed animals.
Base building, research tree, enemy raids.
Exploration, resource gathering, survival.
I don’t think Nintendo has a monopoly on enslaving animals.
I know what you mean, tho. It’s always described as “Pokémon with guns and 3xE gameplay”.
But does Nintendo actually have a case that will hold up in courts?
Pocketpair seems confident they can defend against it. So either they have done their research and are up for a fight. Or they (think they) are calling Nintendo’s bluff.
But Nintendo has a whole pack of lawyers.
Unfortunately there are no details on what the patents being infringemed upon are, just that they relate to “Pocket Monster”.
frezik@midwest.social 2 months ago
Which, incidentally, would probably past legal muster. You can get pretty close to the source material, and as long as it’s your own custom art, it’s not infringement.
That said, lawyers can send a C&D letter for anything. Doesn’t mean it will hold up in court, but they’re betting the target won’t want to pay that kind of money to fight it.
olafurp@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Nintendo is making a case that the use of capsules to capture and carry creatures is their IP.
CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Dragon Ball was using capsules to store things long before Pokemon did. And Dragon Ball Z, which ended in Japan in '96 had already done storing 'creatures in capsules. Saibamen for one. And after the Saiyan saga Bulma puts her dead friends in coffin capsules.
So Akira Toriyama did it before Pokemon.
JustZ@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Does patent mean something else there?