The three patents—all filed in Japan between May and July 2024—draw similarities between Palworld and 2022’s 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus specifically. Their descriptions concern game mechanics like “riding an object” or throwing a ball to capture and possess a character in virtual spaces.
Wait…so the patents didn’t even exist when Palworld was released into EA? or am I missing something?
You’re not, but there’s a preexisting patent, and these three are basically extensions of that patent.
Essentially, Palworld needed to know what supplementary patents Nintendo was going to file in the future in Japan so they didn’t run afoul of the patent from the past. You know, textbook legal psychic stuff, really. /s
I hope Nintendo hurts itself in its confusion as its lawyers flail before the Japanese courts.
Has Phoenix Wright been a documentary about the Japanese legal system this entire time, and we just wrote it off?
Tbh, if this is how Japan does patent law, it’s a wonder they have as much technological progress as they do.
Software patents shouldn’t exist!
Or at least the bar should be much much higher. Like if you’ve invented the SHA algorithm… Fine.
However, if you’ve just invented “a way to purchase something over the network via a phone”… That is not patent worthy.
You should not patent algorithms as it’s a “discovery” not an invention.
There are 2 main category in software patents that mimics real life production, that I think is fairly acceptable.
- ingenuity: komani patent that mini game during loading screen
- unique concept: the nemesis system
The throwing ball to capture creature I think is more copyright than patent.
I think software patents should really only apply to extremely tricky algorithmic “discoveries” (which I would consider inventions, as someone that’s written a SHA256 implementation from reference material, nobody is “just coming up with that”).
“Ingenuity patents” like that loading screen game are everything that’s wrong with software patents. It’s not all that crazy of an idea to add a game while waiting to play the main game. There’s no radical research required there, just an idea.
I don’t think vague ideas like “a game in a loading screen” are sufficiently creative to warrant a patent.
Counterpoint: both of those ideas being patented meant no competitor could use them while the ideas were relevant. And in both cases, the patenting company made like one promising example of the patented idea and then barely used it after that. Wouldn’t it have been better for consumers if we could have had loading screen minigames back when long loading screens were still relevant?
The three patents—all filed in Japan between May and July 2024—draw similarities between Palworld and 2022’s 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus specifically. Their descriptions concern game mechanics like “riding an object” or throwing a ball to capture and possess a character in virtual spaces.
FUCK Nintendo
