this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by zachimusprime44 to c/[email protected]
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[–] ChicoSuave 43 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Outside of a passing similarity to Pokemon, I wonder what the suit is about

[–] [email protected] 92 points 1 month ago

It's about Nintendo and their rabid legal practices.

[–] finitebanjo 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Fr, in order to have a case they would need to prove more than just identical concept, but overlapping characters entirely. On top of that, the parody defense is pretty solid.

Copyright suits generally only proceed if there is a reasonable expectation that the opponent attempted to steal your likeness for profit, to confuse the customer into conflating the two brands.

HOWEVER, this lawsuit isn't in the USA or Europe. It's in Japan.

[–] halcyoncmdr 21 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This isn't a copyright suit. The Pal/Pokemon resemblance isn't a part of this at all.

This is a patent infringement lawsuit. Which is even more confusing since I'm not sure what Pokemon would have a patent on mechanically, that hasn't been done before, or since, without them defending previously.

[–] WarlordSdocy 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There are actually a lot of patents in the video games industry. Idk how often they are actually enforced but two examples I know are that EA had a patent on loading screen mini games and I believe Monolith has a patent on the nemesis system they made for Shadow of Morder and Shadow of War. So there's a chance they stumbled into some patent Nintendo has and they're using that as a way to get rid of Palworld since they decided going for copyright infringement wasn't gonna work.

[–] VelvetStorm 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If only they would use the god dam nemesis system in other games! It is too cool to just die with those 2 games.

[–] lath 5 points 1 month ago

Some do. In Warframe you can get a specific type of enemy tailored to the player, who then steals your loot and mocks you.

[–] Sanctus 6 points 1 month ago

I read them in another thread, game mechanic patents are some deep magic of copyright law. No sane person would dream up that madness.

[–] Carighan 2 points 1 month ago

without them defending previously

AFAIK this is only a thing in the US? In many jurisdictions you are not beholden to actively defending your patent or you might lose it. You're just required to pay the fees to uphold it, and well, if you want to drag someone to court you might have some extra hoops to jump through (for example over here you need to prove it was used in an intentional manner and to generate profit).