Nintendo has been denied a patent in Japan for a capturing mechanic similar to that seen in some Pokémon games.
The application was made in March 2024 and partly describes the act of catching a character in game, in a method that appears to be similar to that in the Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu / Eevee games.
Among the patent’s description (via machine translation) the mechanic “causes the computer to, when the capture item… hits the field character, make a capture success determination as to whether the capture is successful”.
If the computer decides the capture was successful it will then “set the field character hit by the capture item to be owned by the player”.
The application also describes numerous other situations, including using a similar mechanic to hit characters with items which can “restrict the movement of the field character on the field”.
However, as spotted by GamesFray, the application has now been rejected by the Japan Patent Office (JPO), after it looked at ‘prior art’ – examples of the invention being used before the application was made – which had been submitted by a third party.
The Notice of Refusal published by the JPO says “the inventions claimed in… this application were invented in Japan or elsewhere before the filing of the application”.
It then cites examples of games like Ark, Craftopia, Monster Hunter 4 and Pokémon Go, which have mechanics which could fall under the descriptions in the application, suggesting those ideas already existed.
Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Palworld studio Pocketpair last year.
According to GamesFray, it’s “plausible” that Pocketpair could have been the third party that provided the prior art to the JPO.
While the JPO’s refusal isn’t binding on the ongoing legal battle between Nintendo and Palworld studio Pocketpair – especially because Nintendo can still appeal or amend the application – it’s noted that judges tend to respect the decisions made by patent examiners, who have more training in this field. As such, Pocketpair could point to this application refusal in an attempt to influence the judge’s decision.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair in Japan last year, alleging that Palworld infringes on three patents that are related to monster catching gameplay, including summoning Pals by throwing Pal Spheres, and using Pals as vehicles like gliders.
Last month Nintendo successfully acquired a US patent on a gameplay mechanic which covers the action of summoning another character and making them battle on the player’s behalf.
AloJapan.com