• Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
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      2 months ago

      To be fair I saw one “Pal” that just straight up used Zoruas model.

      Nintendo never cared about stuff like Digimon or Cassette Beasts, so I’m guessing the problem is actual models made by Nintendo were used. Buuuuut this is Nintendo and they sent people cease and desists over Pokemon fan games FFS, so who the hell knows.

      I mean, Palwords developers are skeezy, but on the other hand so is Nintendo, also fuck copyright.

      • doublepepperoni [none/use name]OP
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        282 months ago

        Since it’s a patent lawsuit they’re going after game mechanics rather than character designs, but we don’t know which mechanics yet

      • Anvil_Lavigne [she/her, they/them]
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        242 months ago

        Digimon

        i get that they’re commonly seen as rivals outside of japan (because saban localised the anime w/ the very intention of challenging pokemon, instead of leveraging the obvious differences), but like, if nintendo had gone after digimon, they’d be going after literally anything featuring monsters. the original 1997 iteration of digital monster was “tamagotchi for boys,” which is where battling & evolution comes in comrade-raccoon

        obv the similar names might seem awfully sus, but as i understand, the abbreviating of names like that is fairly common in japan. like, if we knew the franchises as pocket monster & digital monster, there would still be a similarity there, but it would seem less egregious ig.

        thank u for suffering my autism

      • Infamousblt [any]
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        192 months ago

        Honestly Nintendo has had some big wins lately getting people to fold rather than fight in court even when the fight should be winnable. Maybe they’re just hoping that happens here too. Get these guys all tied up in court even if Nintendo knows they won’t win just to keep the Palworld devs occupied with the court fight rather than making their game

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]OP
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      2 months ago

      They didn’t specify which patents were being infringed upon. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. It’s in Japan so I assume Nintendo’s got this in the bag

      • PKMKII [none/use name]
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        172 months ago

        According to a Mastodon post, the speculation is it’s over “patents such as one for throwing and using Poké Balls in a 3D space (JP,2023-092953,A); and one for automatically switching between ride Pokémon as a player transitions between different terrain, such as between air and the ground (JP,2023-092954,A)."

        IANAL, certainly not in Japanese patent law, but the first one sounds stronger to me, but still not bulletproof.

          • huf [he/him]
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            382 months ago

            the idea of patents were sold to us with this romantic tale of the lone inventor being able to live off his genius.

            none of that is real. patents are absurd and should be abolished, just like copyright (sold to us with a similar fairytale).

            • PKMKII [none/use name]
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              152 months ago

              The fundamental flaw with patents is being transferrable and the property model of them. Within the context of the current political economy, it would make more sense if someone used another’s patent commercially, the patent holder just gets a tax credit equal to some small percentage of the sales. And sweet Jesus the entire concept of being able to buy and sell patent rights is fucked up.🔝

          • Belly_Beanis [he/him]
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            42 months ago

            AFAIK game mechanics in the US can’t be patented, especially board games. It’s one of the few things American copyright law isn’t fucking stupid about.

      • keepcarrot [she/her]
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        52 months ago

        That does not sound like a real patent. Or at least something that should not be a real patent

  • KoboldKomrade [he/him]
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    382 months ago

    Joke lawsuit. The only valid response is a fedposting to any lawyer or judge who decides to waste time arbitrating whether or not a soulless husk can own a concept.

  • nothx [he/him]
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    372 months ago

    lol nice.

    Fuck Nintendo, but this is funny to me because it’s just another cash grab early access game by a pop up game studio. they are about to spend all their profits on litigation and then abandon the game just like the rest of their projects.

  • goose [he/him]
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    252 months ago

    When Palworld came out, I was surprised that the ever-litigious Nintendo didn’t take some sort of legal action. So to all the people on here who thought that was a bad take and called me out, all I have to say now is: you’re lovely and I appreciate you

  • StalinStan [none/use name]
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    202 months ago

    Having played palworld it is a significantly diffrent product. I don’t see specifics in thr article but it is unclear to me what the actual claim could be

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]OP
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      2 months ago

      It was one more Steam early access survival crafting game, though it made quite a big splash due to the novelty of having pokey men in it

  • Starlet [she/her, it/its]
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    62 months ago

    If Pocketpair were American, I honestly think they might have a chance. But from what I’ve heard, Tokyo District Courts aren’t likely to rule against Nintendo.