In another thread someone linked Nintendo’s patent on mounting a creature and being able to both fly through the air and run along the ground while riding said creature.
We don’t know what Nintendo is suing about yet, and it’s possible they have something real like they found out that the devs ripped an asset from a pokemon game and tweaked it with AI like a lot of people were speculating at one point, but right now I’m leaning towards this lawsuit is fucked and if Nintendo gets away with it they will be stifling every game with collectable creatures in the industry.
To be fair I saw one “Pal” that just straight up used Zoruas model.
Nintendo never cared about stuff like Digimon or Cassette Beasts, so I’m guessing the problem is actual models made by Nintendo were used. Buuuuut this is Nintendo and they sent people cease and desists over Pokemon fan games FFS, so who the hell knows.
I mean, Palwords developers are skeezy, but on the other hand so is Nintendo, also fuck copyright.
i get that they’re commonly seen as rivals outside of japan (because saban localised the anime w/ the very intention of challenging pokemon, instead of leveraging the obvious differences), but like, if nintendo had gone after digimon, they’d be going after literally anything featuring monsters. the original 1997 iteration of digital monster was “tamagotchi for boys,” which is where battling & evolution comes in
obv the similar names might seem awfully sus, but as i understand, the abbreviating of names like that is fairly common in japan. like, if we knew the franchises as pocket monster & digital monster, there would still be a similarity there, but it would seem less egregious ig.
Honestly Nintendo has had some big wins lately getting people to fold rather than fight in court even when the fight should be winnable. Maybe they’re just hoping that happens here too. Get these guys all tied up in court even if Nintendo knows they won’t win just to keep the Palworld devs occupied with the court fight rather than making their game
They didn’t specify which patents were being infringed upon. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. It’s in Japan so I assume Nintendo’s got this in the bag
According to a Mastodon post, the speculation is it’s over “patents such as one for throwing and using Poké Balls in a 3D space (JP,2023-092953,A); and one for automatically switching between ride Pokémon as a player transitions between different terrain, such as between air and the ground (JP,2023-092954,A)."
IANAL, certainly not in Japanese patent law, but the first one sounds stronger to me, but still not bulletproof.
AFAIK game mechanics in the US can’t be patented, especially board games. It’s one of the few things American copyright law isn’t fucking stupid about.
The fundamental flaw with patents is being transferrable and the property model of them. Within the context of the current political economy, it would make more sense if someone used another’s patent commercially, the patent holder just gets a tax credit equal to some small percentage of the sales. And sweet Jesus the entire concept of being able to buy and sell patent rights is fucked up.🔝
That latter one is interesting because I can think of multiple MMOs with mounts that worked that way long before Nintendo did it. But I guess Nintendo is the only company that bothered to patent it in Japan.
Which would work out in Pocketpair’s favor; establishing that it was an existing, common mechanic before the patent was filed will typically get it nullified.
I’m sorry but uh, for what? The concept of collectible battle monsters?
Nintendo about to start suing plumbing companies for stealing the concept of Mario
In another thread someone linked Nintendo’s patent on mounting a creature and being able to both fly through the air and run along the ground while riding said creature.
We don’t know what Nintendo is suing about yet, and it’s possible they have something real like they found out that the devs ripped an asset from a pokemon game and tweaked it with AI like a lot of people were speculating at one point, but right now I’m leaning towards this lawsuit is fucked and if Nintendo gets away with it they will be stifling every game with collectable creatures in the industry.
That does not sound like a real patent. Or at least something that should not be a real patent
Nintendo assassinates the pope
To be fair I saw one “Pal” that just straight up used Zoruas model.
Nintendo never cared about stuff like Digimon or Cassette Beasts, so I’m guessing the problem is actual models made by Nintendo were used. Buuuuut this is Nintendo and they sent people cease and desists over Pokemon fan games FFS, so who the hell knows.
I mean, Palwords developers are skeezy, but on the other hand so is Nintendo, also fuck copyright.
i get that they’re commonly seen as rivals outside of japan (because saban localised the anime w/ the very intention of challenging pokemon, instead of leveraging the obvious differences), but like, if nintendo had gone after digimon, they’d be going after literally anything featuring monsters. the original 1997 iteration of digital monster was “tamagotchi for boys,” which is where battling & evolution comes in
obv the similar names might seem awfully sus, but as i understand, the abbreviating of names like that is fairly common in japan. like, if we knew the franchises as pocket monster & digital monster, there would still be a similarity there, but it would seem less egregious ig.
thank u for suffering my autism
We should make this a Digimon fan site. Sick of the PokePosuers on here.
Kicking myself for not making my account “ComradeWizardmon”.
There is a small but dedicated cluster of Digidestined
masaru says “punch gods, no masters”
Call it LTV-Pets.ru
There is a some digiposting in the mega
They would have had a hell of a time bringing down these juggernauts
Since it’s a patent lawsuit they’re going after game mechanics rather than character designs, but we don’t know which mechanics yet
Honestly Nintendo has had some big wins lately getting people to fold rather than fight in court even when the fight should be winnable. Maybe they’re just hoping that happens here too. Get these guys all tied up in court even if Nintendo knows they won’t win just to keep the Palworld devs occupied with the court fight rather than making their game
Look again. There were no model rips.
deleted by creator
They didn’t specify which patents were being infringed upon. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. It’s in Japan so I assume Nintendo’s got this in the bag
According to a Mastodon post, the speculation is it’s over “patents such as one for throwing and using Poké Balls in a 3D space (JP,2023-092953,A); and one for automatically switching between ride Pokémon as a player transitions between different terrain, such as between air and the ground (JP,2023-092954,A)."
IANAL, certainly not in Japanese patent law, but the first one sounds stronger to me, but still not bulletproof.
Patents are so fucking stupid loo
God patents for game mechanics are so fucking stupid and should be thrown out entirely
AFAIK game mechanics in the US can’t be patented, especially board games. It’s one of the few things American copyright law isn’t fucking stupid about.
the idea of patents were sold to us with this romantic tale of the lone inventor being able to live off his genius.
none of that is real. patents are absurd and should be abolished, just like copyright (sold to us with a similar fairytale).
The fundamental flaw with patents is being transferrable and the property model of them. Within the context of the current political economy, it would make more sense if someone used another’s patent commercially, the patent holder just gets a tax credit equal to some small percentage of the sales. And sweet Jesus the entire concept of being able to buy and sell patent rights is fucked up.🔝
Oh boy I hope you never read about Konami and DDR patents/lawsuits
That latter one is interesting because I can think of multiple MMOs with mounts that worked that way long before Nintendo did it. But I guess Nintendo is the only company that bothered to patent it in Japan.
Yeah World of Warcraft’s been doing that since 2004?
Which would work out in Pocketpair’s favor; establishing that it was an existing, common mechanic before the patent was filed will typically get it nullified.