Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are seeking approximately $65,700 in compensation from their lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. In a press release, the studio issued on Friday, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company want ¥5 million each (plus late fees), for a total of ¥10 million or $65,700 in damages, Engadget reported.
At first glance, that’s a paltry amount of money to demand for copying one of the most successful gaming properties ever, particularly when you consider Tropic Haze, the creator of the now defunct Yuzu Switch emulator, and agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle its recent case with Nintendo. While Nintendo and the Pokémon Company may well have wanted to sue for more, their legal approach may have limited their options somewhat.
As you might recall, when the two sued Pocketpair in September, they didn’t accuse it of copyright infringement. Instead, they went for patent infringement. On Friday, Pocketpair listed the three patents Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are accusing the studio of infringing.
Per Bloomberg, they relate to gameplay elements found in most Pokémon gams. For example, one covers the franchise’s signature battling mechanics, while another relates to how players can ride monsters.
RockPaperShotgun reported: Palworld developers Pocketpair have finally revealed which patents Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are suing them about. It looks like they’re focusing on test act of throwing capsular items to catch or release monsters, together with the usage of monsters as mounts.
When Palworld hit Steam in January, there was an outcry from some Pokémon players that it had broken Pokémon’s copyright. After an ominous interlude, Nintendo announced legal proceedings agains Pocketpair in September, declaring the the corporation would “continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
Kotaku reported: The reason patent attorneys get paid so much money is that no one in their right mind would ever want to be a patent attorney. Thus, we can all nod and smile as if we understand as Palworld developers Pocketpair releases a statement about precisely which patents Nintendo is claiming the Pokémon-alike game is violating.
The statement also includes the details on the damages Nintendo is seeking, for what it’s claiming is a violation of intellectual property. The company wants 10 million yen to be equally split between Nintendo Co., Ltd., and The Pokémon Company. That works out to just under $33,000 each.
In my opinion, Pocketpair is likely going to have to face the consequences of allegedly stealing Nintendo’s copyright on all of its various Pokémon.