We receive different news after the legal battle with Palworld. You already know that the game has generated great controversy due to the perceived similarities in the designs of its creatures called “Pals.” with Nintendo Pokémon. There is no doubt that the game has been inspired by Pokémon. Sony has already shown its support for Palworld, but Nintendo and Pokémon have done the opposite.

They demonstrated this by suing its developers. Later, Pocketpair, developer of Palworld, made a statement responding to the plaintiffs. They also commented how bad they felt when they received the demand. After the last patent rejection to Nintendo, as well as a change in strategy in this company, it has been confirmed that Palworld has already left its early access and has been released as version 1.0 July 10, 2026.

After the success of that version, we have learned that the Japan Patent Office (JPO) has rejected a patent application for nintendo related to a “monster capture” system. The examiner cited as prior art a video of a Pokémon fan game 2013. This decision is relevant because the patent belongs to the same family as the two patents that Nintendo uses in its legal dispute against pocketpairdeveloper of Palworld.

Patent application details

• In spring 2026, Nintendo filed a patent application (No. 2026-019762) which covers a touch screen based monster capture system.
• Some industry analysts interpreted this as a possible threat against Palworld Mobile.
• Although not directly linked to the current lawsuit against Pocketpair, Nintendo described it as part of the same patent family.
• The request covered mechanics such as:
  • Touch screen movement
  • Capture objects
  • Summoned combat creatures
  • Command selection
  • Capturing field characters, both in and out of combat

“Pokémon Generations” fan project cited as evidence

• After a first rejection in April 2026Nintendo received a second rejection in July 2026.
• The examiner held that Nintendo’s claims they lacked inventive stepby combining gameplay and touch screen techniques already demonstrated previously.
• The evidence cited included a pokemon fan project called Pokémon Generations.
• Specifically, a video of YouTube June 2013 titled “Pokemon Generations – 3D Indie Pokemon Gameplay”, published more than eight years before the application priority date (December 2021).
• Nintendo argued that said material should not be considered valid prior artas the fan project allegedly infringed on Pokémon-related copyrights.
• The examiner rejected that argumentnoting that the alleged infringement did not alter what the publicly available video demonstrated: that some of the systems Nintendo sought to patent They were not unique or original..

Similar precedent in the dispute with Palworld

• This is not the first case in which Pokémon-related fan content has been used against a Nintendo patent.
• In February 2025Pocketpair cited a Pokémon mod for Dark Souls 3called Pocket Souls (2020), as proof of prior art.
• According to Pocketpair, said mod already demonstrated monster capture mechanics – such as selecting targets in the field and displaying successful capture probabilities. before priority date December 2021 from the Nintendo patent family.

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Fountain.