Nintendo is Denied the Patent for a ‘Monster Capture’ Mechanic

The latest news to come out of Nintendo’s lawsuit against Palworld Developers PocketPair, the Japanese Patent Office has denied the request of Nintendo to patent monster capture machanics in their videogames. Of course, this mainly concerns the Pokemon series, which has been one of the best-selling media franchises of all time since its conception in 1996.

This decision made is non-final but is likely to remain in place considering how vague the monster catching concept is in the world of videogames. Other franchises such as Monster Hunter and Digimon have used the mechanics previously as well as many indie offerings. Should this be approved, it would mean that Nintendo holds the sole rights to any monster catching concept in videogames.

The Japanese Patent Office confirmed that the reason for the rejection of the patent was that Nintendo’s version of the monster catching concept ‘lacked an inventive step’. This decision itself won’t affect the proceedings between Nintendo and PocketPair but does imply a lot more leniency that may give Palworld some leeway in their arguments.