Nintendo, The Pokemon Company has slapped a patent infringement lawsuit against the maker of survival adventure game “Palworld”.
The lawsuit was filed in the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday and has asked for a ban as well as compensation for damages which was precipitated by Tokyo-based Pocketpair Inc by infringing multiple patent rights.
Nintendo and The Pokemon Company Initiate Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against ‘Palworld’ Creator
Palworld looked like a rehash of the Pokémon series and its creatures closely resemble those found in Nintendo’s brand.
Nintendo in its lawsuit stated,
“This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights. Nintendo will 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.”
Allegations that Palworld is a copy of the Pokémon started immediately after the launch of the former in January.
Palworld sold a whopping four million copies within a week and attracted over 25 million players within a month of its release.
In July Pocketpair announced that it would partner with Sony to promote the game globally
The lure of cashing in on an old but popular game is nothing new nor is it happening for the first time. Palworld is often labelled as Pokemon albeit with a gun and became an out-and-out hit when it was released in mid-January.
The game allows the players to use guns to capture and train entities known as ‘Pals’. The ‘Pal-tamers’ or the players travel around a vast map battling both human enemies and creatures called “pals,” which can be captured and recruited.
Unlike the Pokemon series, Palworld incorporates elements of battle, monster-capturing, training, and base building.
Pocketpair has admitted that it has received a notice of a patent infringement lawsuit on Wednesday.
However, it added that it is unaware which specific patents it has been indicted of infringing upon. Pocketpair also stated that it will commence appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims.
The company in a statement said,
“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit,”
Pokemon company had in January announced that it will investigate any infringement of intellectual property rights and take appropriate actions
