Nintendo has continued to push patent claims in its multi-year legal confrontation with Pocketpair over the monster-taming game Palworld, but the Japanese patent office has rejected another of the company’s patent applications.
The decision, reported by Gamesfray, focuses on touchscreen-based monster-catching mechanics and represents a further setback for Nintendo’s intellectual-property strategy in this dispute.
The rejected patent covered a method for catching creatures using touchscreen interactions.
The Japanese patent examiner ruled the claimed mechanics did not meet the threshold of an “inventive step” over prior art.
The examiner cited several existing examples—including third-party titles, earlier Pokémon games, and a fan-made project called Pokémon Generations—as prior implementations that undermined Nintendo’s claim to novelty.
Nintendo argued that the fan project should not be considered relevant prior art because it allegedly infringed Pokémon’s copyright.
The examiner dismissed that argument and found the combination of prior examples sufficient to show the touchscreen mechanics were not patentably distinct.
In plain terms, the examiner concluded the mechanics were an obvious variation on previously published or publicly available implementations and therefore did not qualify for patent protection.
The examiner also indicated the office considers the matter closed unless Nintendo elects to file an appeal within the statutory window.
This ruling follows previous decisions in which several patents Nintendo relied on in its case against Pocketpair were rejected in both the United States and Japan.
Pocketpair has already implemented a series of changes to Palworld in response to earlier legal actions, and reports say the developer’s Palworld 1.0 update addressed elements targeted by Nintendo’s filings.
Those updates, combined with the recent patent rejections, have reduced the number of enforceable claims Nintendo can use against newer versions of Palworld.
For the industry, the decision underscores how patent offices evaluate novelty and inventive step in game mechanics, particularly when similar implementations exist across multiple titles or community projects.
While Nintendo retains other legal options, the Japanese examiner’s rejection narrows the company’s immediate routes for enforcement concerning touchscreen capture mechanics.
Developers, platform holders, and players on storefronts such as the Nintendo eShop and consoles like Nintendo Switch will be watching for any further appeals or filings in this high-profile dispute.
The decision, reported by Gamesfray, focuses on touchscreen-based monster-catching mechanics and represents a further setback for Nintendo’s intellectual-property strategy in this dispute.
The rejected patent covered a method for catching creatures using touchscreen interactions.
The Japanese patent examiner ruled the claimed mechanics did not meet the threshold of an “inventive step” over prior art.
The examiner cited several existing examples—including third-party titles, earlier Pokémon games, and a fan-made project called Pokémon Generations—as prior implementations that undermined Nintendo’s claim to novelty.
Nintendo argued that the fan project should not be considered relevant prior art because it allegedly infringed Pokémon’s copyright.
The examiner dismissed that argument and found the combination of prior examples sufficient to show the touchscreen mechanics were not patentably distinct.
In plain terms, the examiner concluded the mechanics were an obvious variation on previously published or publicly available implementations and therefore did not qualify for patent protection.
The examiner also indicated the office considers the matter closed unless Nintendo elects to file an appeal within the statutory window.
This ruling follows previous decisions in which several patents Nintendo relied on in its case against Pocketpair were rejected in both the United States and Japan.
Pocketpair has already implemented a series of changes to Palworld in response to earlier legal actions, and reports say the developer’s Palworld 1.0 update addressed elements targeted by Nintendo’s filings.
Those updates, combined with the recent patent rejections, have reduced the number of enforceable claims Nintendo can use against newer versions of Palworld.
For the industry, the decision underscores how patent offices evaluate novelty and inventive step in game mechanics, particularly when similar implementations exist across multiple titles or community projects.
While Nintendo retains other legal options, the Japanese examiner’s rejection narrows the company’s immediate routes for enforcement concerning touchscreen capture mechanics.
Developers, platform holders, and players on storefronts such as the Nintendo eShop and consoles like Nintendo Switch will be watching for any further appeals or filings in this high-profile dispute.
