{"id":48623,"date":"2025-06-03T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48623"},"modified":"2025-06-03T09:38:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T00:38:48","slug":"nintendo-may-not-be-able-to-recoup-legal-expenses-of-palworld-lawsuit-even-if-it-wins-japanese-attorney-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-may-not-be-able-to-recoup-legal-expenses-of-palworld-lawsuit-even-if-it-wins-japanese-attorney-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo may not be able to recoup legal expenses of Palworld lawsuit even if it wins, Japanese attorney suggests\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been almost nine months since Nintendo and The Pok\u00e9mon Company lodged a patent infringement lawsuit<\/a> against Palworld <\/strong>developer Pocketpair. The latest official update on the case came last month from Pocketpair\u2019s side<\/a>, when the developer confirmed that \u201cthe prolonged litigation\u201d was still ongoing and announced that it would reluctantly be changing some of its game mechanics as a direct result of the lawsuit. Going off court documents shared by GamesFray, Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara recently shared some insights<\/a> on how the case is looking at the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Kurihara, Pocketpair has been following a standard legal strategy\u00a0to defend itself so far. This includes denying infringement, claiming invalidity of Nintendo\u2019s patent rights based on prior art found in existing games, arguing lack of novelty and lack of inventive step. He notes that while some past lawsuits like the Nintendo vs. Colopl infringement case saw Nintendo in an overwhelmingly advantageous position, the Palworld case feels much less one-sided by comparison. \u201cThis time, it appears to be a typical patent infringement case where both parties are engaging in a rapid back-and-forth, pushing for invalidity\/infringement respectively.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Palworld<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Kurihara also suggests that the scale of this lawsuit could potentially make it somewhat fruitless for Nintendo. To assert its claims against Palworld, Nintendo is employing lawyers from TMI Associates, one of Japan\u2019s top five law firms, which has multiple bases cross Japan, Singapore, Silicon Valley, London etc., and specializes in intellectual property cases. On the other hand, Pocketpair is also being represented by major international law\u00a0firm Nishimura & Asahi. With both parties enlisting high-profile legal teams, Kurihara comments, \u201calthough it\u2019s a crude point to bring up, I can\u2019t help but think that Nintendo may not be able to recoup the legal costs even if they win.\u201d The exception would be if Nintendo were to increase their claim amount from the current $10 million yen (around $67,000 USD).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, although it had to compromise on game mechanics like throwing Pal Spheres and gliding on Pals, Pocketpair is still actively updating and putting out new content for Palworld. The game’s next major update<\/a>, “Palworld: Tides of Terraria” is scheduled to come out in Summer 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Palworld<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Related articles: Nintendo patent lawsuit could be tipped in Palworld\u2019s favor by a GTA5 mod from 8 years ago, Japanese attorney suggests<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara shares new insights on the lawsuit between Nintendo and Palworld developer Pocketpair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nNintendo may not be able to recoup legal expenses of Palworld lawsuit even if it wins, Japanese attorney suggests\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara shares new insights on the lawsuit between Nintendo and Palworld developer Pocketpair.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-may-not-be-able-to-recoup-legal-expenses-of-palworld-lawsuit-even-if-it-wins-japanese-attorney-suggests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nintendo may not be able to recoup legal expenses of Palworld lawsuit even if it wins, Japanese attorney suggests\u00a0 - 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