Category: Games & Intellectual Property Rights
-
Discord’s streaming under patent attack in Europe while Epic fends off another patent holder’s U.S. lawsuit over Travis Scott, Ariana Grande concerts
Context: While patent disputes between game makers such as Nintendo’s litigation against Pocketpair over Palworld (May 11, 2025 games fray article) are few and far between, the $200B video game industry is a frequent target of patent assertions by smaller patent holders, often (but not always) non-practicing entities (NPEs). What’s new: We have discovered a…
-
Pocketpair already demoed gliding Pals in June 2021 — six months prior to Nintendo’s original patent application on switching riding objects!
In order to give Nintendo no chance to sue over a forthcoming U.S: patent, Pocketpair removed a feature from Palworld that it had already demoed in 2021.
-
Pocketpair presents moving-target challenge to Nintendo’s patent assertions, which annoy gamers but may ultimately make zero impact
Nintendo’s patent assertions against Palworld have led to further changes to gameplay in an effort by Pocketpair to eliminate any litigation risks.
-
Pocketpair’s defenses against Nintendo’s patent lawsuit unpacked: ARK, Craftopia, Zelda, FF14 etc. may render asserted patents invalid
On games fray’s behalf, a Japanese lawyer today visited the Tokyo District court to look at the Nintendo v. Pocketpair case file. Now we can summarize Pocketpair’s key arguments.
-
Nintendo secures two more anti-Palworld U.S. patents, might file multi-patent U.S. lawsuit against Pocketpair in a matter of months now
Nintendo has recently received a third U.S: patent it might want to assert against Palworld, and a fourth one is now a mere formality.
-
Yesterday Nintendo received a U.S. version of another anti-Palworld patent and asked the U.S. patent office for an interview to get a third patent
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company received two new U.S. patents yesterday, one of which is from a patent family Nintendo is using against Palworld in Japan.
-
Nintendo grappling with hard choice after U.S. patent office overwhelmingly rejected anti-Palworld patent application
This is the fourth part of our “explain it to me like I’m five” series on Nintendo v. Pocketpair (the Pokémon-Palworld patent infringement dispute). In the first three parts, we discussed Nintendo has sued Pocketpair only in Japan. But as other observers have said before us (on X and elsewhere), Nintendo has done something similar with U.S….
-
RevelHMI sues Nintendo over haptic feedback (vibration) patent in Eastern District of Texas after agreeing on key terms with Sony
A startup that has practically settled a patent dispute with Sony is now suing Nintendo over a haptic feedback patent.
-
Costa Rican trademark office deals Nintendo defeat over Super Mario brand against owner of small grocery store: wrong decision
At first sight, Nintendo’s dispute with the owner of a small store in Costa Rica may look like bullying, but there’s more to it.
-
Japanese patent attorney: Palworld doesn’t implement “smooth switching” of riding objects as claimed by Nintendo
This is the second part of our “explain it to me like I’m five” series on Nintendo v. Pocketpair (the Pokémon-Palworld patent dispute). In the first part (January 23, 2025 games fray article), we focused on what has many gamers puzzled: how can Nintendo sue Pocketpair over patents for which it applied after Palworld’s launch?…