Nintendo is reportedly likely to come away with very little, if anything, when its lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair concludes later this year.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed its lawsuit against Pocketpair in Japan in 2024, alleging that Palworld infringed on three patents related to monster-catching gameplay, all of which were initially filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company after Palworld’s initial release.
Initially, Nintendo and TPC called for an injunction against Palworld that would block its release.
In response, last summer, Pocketpair confirmed that it had made significant changes to the game due to the patents, such as removing the ability to summon Pals via ‘Pal Spheres’, which limited the scope of the lawsuit not just to the Japanese market, but also to older versions of the game.
As reported by Gamesfray, both parties appear to have submitted their evidence and court presentation is planned for October 1, with opinions expressed on November 9.
However, because Nintendo and TPC amended the scope of their claims so that the case is limited to older versions of Palworld, before Pocketpair made changes, restricted to sales only in Japan, they are in line for limited damages, or nothing at all.
“Even if — which is far from a given — Nintendo overcame all of the usual hurdles (defending its patents against Pocketpair’s invalidity contentions, proving infringement, and ultimately proving that any damage was caused by the alleged infringement), the most it could get is JPY 5 million, the equivalent of $30K,” Gamesfray reports.
“This litigation is no longer about anything serious in commercial terms. It’s about a hypothetical injunction that doesn’t apply to current product versions and (if anything) a small damages award for a period during which Pocketpair generated limited new sales in Japan.”
To put the potential $30k settlement into context, Nintendo’s most recent annual report stated that it had made a $40m loss from patent litigation in its last business year.
Pocketpair recently confirmed that the 1.0 version of Palworld will release on July 10. “We are fully committed to delivering a deeper, more evolved, and definitive Palworld experience worthy of a full launch,” it said.
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