Nintendo’s Palworld lawsuit faces setback after Japan rejects Pokémon patent application

Japan’s patent office has rejected a key Pokémon-related patent, creating new hurdles for Nintendo’s Palworld lawsuit

Nintendo’s ongoing lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair may be facing new complications after Japan’s patent office rejected one of the company’s core creature-capture system patents for lacking originality.

According to reports from GameRant and Windows Central, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) denied Nintendo’s application no. 2024-031879 in late October 2025.

The rejected patent belongs to the same family as several filings cited in Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s lawsuit against Palworld, which alleges that the game infringes on mechanics related to capturing and switching creatures.

The JPO examiner ruled that the proposed invention was not sufficiently novel, citing multiple prior games such as Monster Hunter 4, ARK: Survival Evolved, Kantai Collection, Craftopia, and Pokémon GO as earlier examples using similar systems.

This rejected filing is part of a broader family that includes patents JP 7493117, JP 7545191, and JP 7528390, several of which underpin Nintendo’s case in the Tokyo District Court.

Analysts, including Games Fray’s Florian Mueller, have described the denied patent as a “key building block” supporting others in the lawsuit. If one branch of that patent chain is deemed unoriginal, it could lead to increased scrutiny of related claims during litigation.

Nintendo has 60 days from the decision to amend or appeal, extending its window to late December 2025. While the rejection does not automatically weaken the lawsuit—since the court is not bound by administrative patent rulings—it may influence how judges assess the originality of the disputed systems, an argument Pocketpair is expected to raise.

Filed on September 19 2024, the lawsuit has already seen delays following earlier amendments to another patent. Legal experts now expect proceedings to continue into 2026 as Nintendo continues to defend the distinctiveness of its Pokémon franchise mechanics.