Pocketpair is trying to make its case in court by using several well-known franchises in the gaming industry as analogies.

Pocketpair has challenged the lawsuit filed by Nintendo by citing other games that use similar mechanics to Palworld, but were not challenged by the co-owner of Pokémon. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed suit against Pocketpair in Japan last year. They claim that Palworld infringes three patents related to monster-catching gameplay that were originally filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company between February and July last year… but Palworld was released on January 19, 2024.

You can read Pocketpair’s defense on Gamesfray. In a series of preliminary motions filed in February, Pocketpair argues that the patents in Nintendo’s lawsuit should not have been granted because earlier works using them were published before the date Nintendo allegedly invented them. With respect to one of the patents, which relates to capturing characters by releasing fighting characters (monsters) or capturing balls, Pocketpair argues that its own Craftopia game does exactly the same thing.

The studio then goes on to list several games that it claims prove that a particular feature was known before Big N filed the original patent applications. It claims that Rune Factory 5, Titanfall 2, and Pikmin 3 Deluxe allow players to release a monster or captured object (such as a ball) and throw it in a direction by pressing a button. He also notes that Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Far Cry 5, and Tomb Raider have already shown that there can be different types of throwable objects, while Pocket Souls, Octopath Traveler, Monster Super League, and Final Fantasy XIV allow players to select targets on a map and show the odds of a capture succeeding. Pocketpair points to Octopath Traveler, Monster Super League, Nexomon, Craftopia, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Monster Hunter 4G, and the Nukamon mod for Fallout in defending another patent related to character capture.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are asking for 5 million yen each, plus late fees. The question is whether they are right to demand it…

Source: VGC, Gamesfray