The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is taking another look at Nintendo’s new patent related to bringing in a secondary character to battle. This review started after Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sued Pocketpair, the creators of Palworld. According to GameFray, the director of the USPTO, John A. Squires, personally requested the re-examination, which is unusual, because of existing patents that may challenge whether Nintendo’s claims are truly new.
In his decision, Squires explained that significant doubts about whether Nintendo’s new patent is truly innovative have emerged. He pointed to existing publications by Yabe and Taura, as well as older patents, which already detail the concept of a companion character assisting a player, either controlled by the game or by the player directly. This raises the question of whether Nintendo’s recently granted patent (filed in 2023, approved in September 2025) represents a genuine advancement in technology or simply repeats ideas already found in previous work.
The patent office is re-examining a recently approved grant after experts raised concerns it was too broad and hadn’t been thoroughly checked against existing games. It’s unusual for the director to step in like this without a formal challenge, suggesting the office wants to carefully evaluate the patent before it’s used in legal disputes. Although the case involves mechanics similar to Pokémon, the patent’s wording applies to many types of games, which is why developers in various genres have been following it closely.
Here’s what happens next: patent examiners will re-examine Nintendo’s claims in light of existing technology. Nintendo can then revise its claims or present arguments to defend them. The patent office will ultimately either uphold the claims, limit their scope, or invalidate them. Currently, the legal situation remains unchanged, but Nintendo now needs to prove why its original claims are valid.
Okay, so basically, if existing technology is similar enough, this patent will probably be limited in scope, which is good news for anyone making similar controllers. But if the patent stays strong as it is, Nintendo will have a really powerful tool to use if they ever feel someone is copying their ideas. As a fan, I’m hoping for the first outcome – more innovation is always better!
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2025-11-05 14:43