Okay, buckle up, because Nintendo’s legal crusade against Palworld just hit a massive, chaotic brick wall. Japan’s patent office just rejected one of Nintendo’s “monster capture” patents, calling it… wait for it… not original enough. Yep. The patent Nintendo was waving like a golden sword in court? Basically invalid.
The office pointed at games like ARK, Monster Hunter 4, Craftopia, Kantai Collection, and Pokémon GO and said, “Been there, done that.” And suddenly, Palworld’s defense just got a full-on power-up. Xbox Game Pass players, rejoice: your weird little creature-collecting chaos is officially less guilty by association.
Patent family trees are wild
Here’s the nerdy part that somehow makes this even more ridiculous: the rejected 2024-031879 patent comes from Nintendo’s 2023 filing JP7505852 (granted) and sits smack in the middle of a branching tree of patents. Another branch, 2024-123560 (JP7545191), is also being cited in court. Basically, Nintendo’s patent family is like a tangled cable behind your TV — now one strand just got yanked out.
What does this mean for Palworld? More legal ammo, more breathing room, and a lot more “haha, not today, big N” energy. Nintendo is going to have to dig deep to prove they invented the act of catching monsters, and honestly… good luck with that.
So yeah, Palworld fans, Xbox enthusiasts, and anyone who just likes throwing weird creatures at stuff — keep your eyes on this one. The courtroom chaos is only getting started, and it’s already more entertaining than half the games we play.
