Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sued Palworld maker Pocketpair for patent infringement in Japan back in 2024. Two years on, Pocketpair has patched out the disputed mechanics, a key US patent has been rejected, and Palworld just launched its full 1.0 version — leaving the case narrowed to old versions of the game and about $66,000 in potential damages.
Allegations Only · No Ruling Yet
This article describes a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The plaintiffs' claims are unproven allegations. Pocketpair has not been found to have infringed any patent, no court has ruled on the merits, and this is a dispute between two companies — there is no class and nothing for the public to claim. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing Pocketpair, the studio behind the hit survival-crafting game Palworld, for patent infringement. The two plaintiffs filed the case in the Tokyo District Court in September 2024 and announced it publicly on September 19, 2024. Rather than claiming Palworld copied Pokémon artwork or code — a copyright or trademark theory — they asserted three Japanese software patents (JP7545191, JP7493117, and JP7528390) that cover functional gameplay mechanics: capturing and summoning creatures by aiming and throwing an item, a real-time capture-probability indicator, and mounting a creature to fly or glide.The suit asks for an injunction and monetary damages. Despite early reports of a much larger sum, court records show the plaintiffs sought a combined 10 million yen — 5 million yen each — plus late-payment interest, or roughly $66,000. Nearly two years later, the case has steadily weakened: Pocketpair reworked the disputed mechanics, patent offices in the United States and Japan have pushed back on related patents, and the plaintiffs have narrowed what they are still pursuing.
Pocketpair Patched Out the Disputed Mechanics
Japanese patent infringement turns on whether the accused product includes every element of a patent's claim. If a developer removes even one required step, it can avoid literal infringement — and that is the path Pocketpair took. In patch v0.3.11, released in November 2024, the studio removed the mechanic that let players throw a sphere to summon a captured Pal into battle; summoned Pals now simply appear next to the player instead. The same update limited when the aiming reticle and capture-odds indicator are shown.Then, in patch v0.5.5 in May 2025, Pocketpair changed how gliding works. Instead of mounting a flying Pal directly, players now equip a separate glider item, decoupling flight from riding a creature the player owns. Each change was designed to move the current game outside the wording of the patents-in-suit.
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Nintendo Narrowed Its Case to Old Versions
In November 2025, according to reporting on the Tokyo District Court filings, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company amended their claims to target only older versions of Palworld — the versions that existed before the v0.3.11 and v0.5.5 updates. That is a significant concession. An injunction is a forward-looking remedy meant to stop ongoing or imminent infringement; by conceding the current game is outside the case, the plaintiffs effectively gave up any path to blocking Palworld's sale or distribution.It also shrinks the money. With the claims limited to a narrow historical window, any damages would be tied to that period, keeping the potential payout near the symbolic ¥10 million already demanded. Patent analysts covering the case have described it as having little chance of any real-world commercial impact on the current or future game.
The US Patent Office Rejected a Related Nintendo Patent
Nintendo's troubles are not confined to Japan. In November 2025, the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office took the rare step of ordering a reexamination of Nintendo's U.S. Patent No. 12,403,397, which covers summoning a sub-character to fight. On March 25, 2026, a USPTO examiner issued a non-final Office Action rejecting all 26 of the patent's claims as obvious, finding the mechanic had already been described in earlier patents — including two filed by Nintendo itself, plus one each from Konami and Bandai Namco.That US patent is not one of the three Japanese patents in the Tokyo lawsuit, and the rejection is non-final, meaning Nintendo can respond and try to save the claims. But it covers the same broad summon-and-fight idea, and a US regulator concluding that idea was not original is an unhelpful signal for Nintendo's parallel effort in Japan. Reporting also indicates the Japan Patent Office pushed back on a related monster-capture application in the same patent family, citing earlier games as prior art.
Palworld 1.0 Launched Anyway
Whatever the courtroom outcome, the litigation has not slowed the game. Palworld left early access with its full 1.0 release on July 10, 2026, shipping a huge update — dozens of new Pals, a new sky zone, and a reworked storyline across pages of patch notes. The launch drove a resurgence on Steam: the game peaked at 855,525 concurrent players over its opening weekend and climbed toward a million, placing it among the 15 biggest concurrent peaks in Steam's history. (Palworld's original early-access debut in January 2024 remains far higher, at about 2.1 million concurrent players.)For Pocketpair, that is the practical bottom line: the disputed mechanics are gone, the current game faces no injunction, and 1.0 shipped to one of the biggest audiences on the platform.
What Happens Next?
The Tokyo District Court has a hearing scheduled for October 1, 2026, where both sides are expected to present technical arguments, with preliminary court views and a ruling anticipated later in the fall. Even a full win for Nintendo would, on the current claims, be limited to the roughly ¥10 million demanded for the historical versions of the game.For readers, there is nothing to file — this is a company-versus-company patent fight, not a consumer class action, so there is no fund, claim form, or deadline. If you are looking for cases you can actually act on, OpenClassActions tracks class action settlements with open claim forms. Nintendo also faces a separate consumer case in the U.S. — a proposed tariff-refund class action over import costs passed on to buyers — which is unrelated to the Palworld patents.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Nintendo Palworld lawsuit about?
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, in the Tokyo District Court in September 2024. The plaintiffs allege that certain Palworld gameplay mechanics infringe three Japanese software patents covering monster capture and summoning and airborne mounting. These are unproven allegations; no court has ruled that Pocketpair infringed.
How much money is Nintendo seeking from Pocketpair?
The plaintiffs are seeking 10 million yen total — 5 million yen each for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company — plus late-payment interest. That is roughly $66,000. Early reports of a much larger figure were inaccurate. This is a dispute between two companies, not a class action, so there is nothing for the public to claim.
Did Nintendo lose a patent in the Palworld case?
In the United States, the USPTO ordered a reexamination of Nintendo's related patent No. 12,403,397 covering a summon-and-fight mechanic, and in March 2026 an examiner issued a non-final Office Action rejecting all 26 claims as obvious in light of earlier patents — including two of Nintendo's own. The rejection is non-final and Nintendo can respond. That US patent is not one of the three Japanese patents in the Tokyo lawsuit, but it covers a similar concept.
Is Palworld being shut down?
No. Pocketpair changed the disputed mechanics in updates released in November 2024 and May 2025, and in November 2025 the plaintiffs narrowed their claims to older versions of the game. That removed the threat of an injunction against the current game. Palworld launched its full 1.0 version on July 10, 2026 without legal restrictions.
Can I claim money from the Palworld lawsuit?
No. This is a patent dispute between two companies, not a consumer class action. There is no settlement fund, no class, and no claim form for the public.
Sources
• Automaton West — reporting that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company narrowed the Palworld suit to older versions of the game• Nintendo Life — coverage of the USPTO rejecting Nintendo's "summon and fight" patent
• Engadget — reporting on the USPTO reexamination of Nintendo's summoning patent
• GamesRadar+ — coverage of Palworld 1.0's launch and Steam concurrent-player numbers
• Techdirt — analysis of the Nintendo/Palworld patent suit heading toward a muted conclusion
