Nintendo Responds to Palworld’s ‘Prior Art’ Patent Defense

The legal battle between Pocketpair and Nintendo began in September 2024 when Nintendo sued, claiming the game *Palworld* copied technology covered by three of its patents. In April 2025, details of Pocketpair’s defense became public. Pocketpair is fighting the lawsuit on two fronts: arguing that Nintendo’s patents aren’t valid and that *Palworld* doesn’t actually infringe on them. To challenge the patents’ validity, Pocketpair pointed to existing games and fan-made modifications, specifically a *Dark Souls 3* mod called Pocket Souls. They argued that Nintendo didn’t invent the system of aiming at and capturing creatures-like using a Poke Ball-and calculating the chances of success; Pocket Souls demonstrated similar concepts existed before Nintendo’s patents.






