Nintendo’s recent legal activity has caused quite the commotion online. One patent application relating to the summoning of a so-called ‘sub character’ has proven particularly controversial following its swift approval, with the broad nature of its contents having potentially wide ramifications on the games industry.
Now, in speaking with Eurogamer, Don McGowan, former Chief Legal Officer for The Pokémon Company, believes that the patent will likely just be ignored. His belief is that because there are countless examples of existing games utilising a summoning mechanic, Nintendo’s patent simply won’t hold up in court should it choose to launch an infringement lawsuit.
“I wish Nintendo and Pokémon good luck when the first other developer just entirely ignores this patent and, if those companies sue that developer, the developer shows decades of prior art.
“This isn’t Bandai Namco with the loading screen patent”.
Meanwhile, games industry lawyer Richard Hoeg reckons that the mere existence of the patent may simply be enough to dissuade developers from implementing a summoning mechanic.
“The filing for such patent protection indicates that Nintendo does intend to pursue a legal strategy in defending itself against entrants in the pocket monster genre. But that strategy may or may not involve lawsuits, as the ‘muddying of the waters’ effected by the patents existence may be enough to deter investment in and creation of competitors. That is, if Nintendo looks like it could pounce, that may be enough. No actual pouncing required.”
So it’s a complex situation, then. It’s admittedly tricky to really parse the language in the patent itself, but some of its descriptions and flowcharts do make specific mention of a ‘ball’ when summoning a sub character. If this is indeed the case, then perhaps developers don’t need to fear a potential lawsuit so long as they refrain from implementing a ‘Pokéball-inspired’ feature.
We’ll have to wait and see if there are any tangible ramifications from Nintendo’s patent, but it seems that Nintendo is utterly determined to win its case against Pocketpair and Palworld.
