Nintendo Gets New Patent to Fight against Palworld

Nintendo keeps fighting against Palworld in the legal field, and it has new ammo in the form of a new patent.

If you missed it, Nintendo couldn't find a way to sue Palworld makers for a while but then decided to bombard them with patents (registered later than the game came out) presented in front of the Tokyo District Court to blame Pocketpair for patent infringement.

Looks like Nintendo went on a rampage globally, as there is a new patent for Pocketpair to answer to. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a patent number 12,220,638 on February 11. It describes a creature-capturing system, which Nintendo has accused Pocketpair of stealing before, but this time, it doesn't distinguish between a screen for aiming a Poke Ball-like device and one for capturing a creature, as reported by Game Rant.

The new document replaces the phrase "field character" with "virtual character," and the fuse of the two modes might give Nintendo more room for movement.

In December 2024, the USPTO rejected Nintendo's patent application No. 18/652,883 on 32 out of 33 claims, the remaining describing the mechanics of switching mounts on the fly while the player character is riding them. The USPTO said that it would be allowed if submitted independently. In February 2025, Nintendo's attorney requested to talk with a patent examiner to investigate this case and attempt to get more of its claims granted.

We should expect more Nintendo patents to be thrown Palworld's way. The company is notorious for suing everyone and everything, so Pocketpair should get ready to spend a lot of time in court.

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