A few months back, Nintendo had secured a rather ambiguous patent for a mechanic it called “summoning a character and letting it fight another.” While a reading of the patent without context would make you think it’s too vague to even apply to anything, the ongoing legal battle between Nintendo and Palworld developer Pocket Pair demonstrates that it was likely filed to bolster Nintendo’s legal defense. As a new report from Games Fray explains, however, that defense may have backfired on The Big N.
According to the outlet, the US Patent Office has ordered a reexamination of said patent at the request of USPTO director John A. Squires. According to Squires, his own examination “determined that substantial new questions of patentability have arisen” from Nintendo’s claims. Backing up his statement, he pointed to two older patent applications from Konami and Nintendo, filed in 2002 and 2019 respectively. Used as a “prior art” reference, Squares stated both would be “important in deciding whether the claims are patentable.”
As Game Fray writes, Squires’ order was issued due to “public outrage” at Nintendo winning such an ambiguous patent in the first place. While this reexamination isn’t a declared revocation, it does seem likely that Nintendo will wind up losing this patent in the coming months. Nintendo has been given two months to respond, though I would be shocked if it could come up with any kind of legal defense against this.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
