Palworld developer Pocketpair has revealed new details about the patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, with confirmation of the actual patents the studio is alleged to have infringed upon, and it doesn’t bode particularly well for the plaintiffs.

Nintendo is currently seeking an injunction against Pocketpair’s game Palworld, along with damages to the tune of about 5 million yen (around $32,846 in U.S, dollars). If Nintendo and The Pokemon Company win their legal battle the total damages and penalties could be double that amount. They’re calling this “compensation for a portion of the damages incurred between the date of registration of the patents and the date of filing of this lawsuit.” Although this number wasn’t previously known, one IP expert previously suggested that Pocketpair could “easily” afford the legal battle.

Nintendo and The Pokemon Company allege that Pocketpair has infringed upon three patents – patent numbers 7545191, 7493117, and 7528390. All of these patents were applied for between February and July this year and registered between May and August. Notably, all of these applications came after the release of Palworld, which launched in early access on January 19, and that’s where things get sticky for the plaintiffs. Retroactively filing for patents on something that has already seen prior art is very difficult to justify, especially when you’re trying to use those filings to go after somebody else.

The three patents are:

• 7545191 essentially describes Pokeball-style catching mechanics, wherein you aim and throw a capture item in order to make a creature your own.
• Also related to capture mechanics is number 7493117, describes an in-game indicator that shows you how likely a capture is to be successful before you actually throw the capture item.
• The third patent, 7528390 describes mechanics related to boarding and riding characters, the sort of thing present in Pokemon Legends: Arceus with the likes of Ride Pokemon Braviary and Basculegion, not to mention a host of other games such as Wizard 101, and No Man’s Sky.

All three of these patents, despite being applied for after Palworld’s release date, are divisional patents of a parent patent. This parent was itself registered in December 2021, over two years before Palworld’s release. That’s the basis on which Nintendo appears to be moving forward. They may have a hard road ahead of them. For a patent to be defensible, you have to demonstrate that you’re vigorously pursuing people who violate the patent, which they clearly have not been doing. This fact, and the fact that the three patents they’re suing over didn’t happen until after Pocketpair released Palworld, suggests that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are engaging in predatory legal practices, an impression which will not serve them well in court. Pocketpair seems to be standing its ground, and says: “We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings.”