The scope of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair’s Palworld – originally filed back in September 2024 – has reportedly been revised to apply only to older versions of the game.
Citing publicly available court records from the Tokyo District Court, Games Fray reports that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company amended the scope of their claims in November 2025. While the lawsuit previously didn’t specify particular versions of Palworld, the revised filing reportedly limits its claims to older versions of the game.
To refresh your memory, the lawsuit alleges that Palworld infringes Japanese Patent No. 7545191, 7493117, and 7528390, with the dispute believed to center on mechanics related to capturing monsters and gliding while mounting them. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction against Palworld as well as damages of 5 million yen plus late-payment interest.
Now, according to both Games Fray and a review of the civil case records conducted by AUTOMATON’s Japanese editorial staff at the Tokyo District Court, the plaintiffs revised the scope of their claims in November 2025 so that they now apply only to older versions of Palworld. The change may be related to updates Pocketpair implemented after the lawsuit was filed. In patch v0.3.11, released in November 2024, the developer removed the mechanic allowing players to summon Pals by throwing a Pal Sphere, replacing it with a system where Pals simply appear directly beside the player. Later, patch v0.5.5 from May 2025 changed how gliding with Pals works, with players using an item-based glider instead of directly mounting Pals.
Back when it released this patch, Pocketpair issued a statement explaining the changes. The company said it remained confident that Palworld does not infringe any of the patents asserted by Nintendo and co, and maintained that the patents in question were invalid in the first place.
At the same time, Pocketpair said it had introduced the gameplay changes as preventive measures to ensure development and distribution of Palworld could continue regardless of how the litigation progressed. According to the company, the revisions were intended to make it even clearer that the game does not infringe the proposed patents. In addition to the changes introduced in patches v0.3.11 and v0.5.5, several other mechanics identified in the lawsuit were also modified as precautionary measures.
Those developments may have contributed to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s decision to narrow the scope of their claims. While the plaintiffs are still seeking an injunction against Palworld, limiting the lawsuit to older versions of the game appears to reduce the likelihood that the current version will be directly affected.
Meanwhile, during Summer Game Fest, Pocketpair announced that Palworld will officially launch on July 10, exiting its Early Access period. Court records available at the Tokyo District Court indicate that a technical briefing is scheduled for October 1, followed by the court’s preliminary disclosure of its views on November 9. The litigation is therefore expected to continue even after the game’s full release, and its outcome remains to be seen.
