Nintendo and The Pokémon Company decided to sue Pocketpair over Palworld. In response, the independent studio stated that it will fight back and defend itself against the entertainment giants, despite many thinking they are at a disadvantage. While there's little information on the case, various experts have already weighed in on the matter.
Some believe that Pocketpair will be harmed by the patent infringement lawsuit. On the other hand, some argue the opposite, thinking that Nintendo lacks the necessary material to bring down the studio and Palworld in a legal battle.
Florian Mueller, an intellectual property expert, recently shared his perspective. From his point of view, Nintendo will not be able to cause significant damage to Pocketpair or halt Palworld operations.
Will Nintendo or Pocketpair win? Expert shares his opinion
Mueller gained prominence in the industry by closely following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Now, his opinion stands out again as he spoke about Nintendo’s lawsuit against Pocketpair.
His stance is clear, and he believes that the house of Mario will not be able to stop Palworld. Why? He thinks that Nintendo lacks the necessary patents to win the case and secure the compensation it seeks from Pocketpair.
“[It’s] unlikely Nintendo owns any valid patents that are so powerful as to prevent Pocketpair from making Palworld. It looks like they are not suing over creative rights relating to how Palworld characters look, though that is what they originally appeared to be concerned about. Patents cover technical inventions, except for U.S. design patents,” the expert stated.
He added that, apparently, in Japan, design rights aren’t referred to as patents. Because of this, he believes Nintendo filed its lawsuit over software patents, which would have nothing to do with the appearance of characters from the popular game on Xbox and PC.
“Those could be patents on, for instance, 3D image rendering. Such techniques can be used to make something that looks like Pokémon and they can also be used to make something that looks like Warcraft,” Muller added.
In his view, Nintendo is simply trying to intimidate Pocketpair, reducing the situation to “it may boil down to nothing but bullying by a frustrated incumbent who hates a successful newcomer.” Lastly, he stated that small companies like Pocketpair usually don’t have patents to file countersuits; however, they can obtain them. For this reason, he believes that the Palworld studio could buy patents to confront Nintendo.
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