Nintendo has suffered another setback in its ongoing patent efforts surrounding monster-catching gameplay, with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) once again rejecting a patent application related to touchscreen-based monster capture mechanics. The decision is significant because it could further weaken Nintendo’s broader patent strategy tied to its legal dispute with Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld.
According to Games Fray, the JPO issued a formal “decision of refusal,” ending the standard examination process for the application. The patent examiner concluded that the claimed mechanics lacked an inventive step when compared with existing prior art, including earlier Pokémon titles, third-party games, and publicly available gameplay demonstrations. Nintendo now has three months to appeal the decision before a panel of JPO administrative judges or submit a revised divisional application with narrower claims.
JPO Rejects Nintendo’s Arguments Over Prior Art
The latest ruling follows an earlier preliminary rejection and marks a more advanced stage in the patent review process. One of Nintendo’s key arguments centered on excluding a gameplay video from an indie project, claiming it allegedly infringed Pokémon-related copyrights and therefore should not qualify as prior art.
However, the JPO rejected that position. As reported by Games Fray, the examiner maintained that copyright concerns are separate from determining whether an invention is novel or inventive under patent law. The office accepted the publicly available gameplay evidence as valid prior art for evaluating the patent application.
Patent analyst Florian Mueller, writing for Games Fray, summarized the impact of the ruling by stating,
“This ‘decision of refusal’ terminates regular patent examination. The patent examiner is done with this.”
He also noted that Nintendo’s remaining options include filing an appeal or pursuing a divisional application with revised claims.
While several individual claims were not specifically rejected, Nintendo chose to pursue the complete claim set, requiring the JPO to make an all-or-nothing decision.
What the Decision Means for Nintendo and Palworld
The rejected patent was reportedly aimed at touchscreen monster-catching mechanics, an area many observers believe could have been relevant if Nintendo intended to challenge a future mobile version of Palworld. The JPO instead found that similar gameplay concepts had already been demonstrated through multiple earlier sources.
Recent reports also suggest Nintendo has faced similar patent setbacks in both Japan and the United States. This latest rejection continues a pattern of unsuccessful attempts to strengthen the legal foundation of Nintendo’s patent claims against Pocketpair.
The timing is notable because Palworld recently reached its Version 1.0 release. Previous reporting indicates that Pocketpair has already modified certain gameplay systems in response to litigation, but the latest patent refusal reduces the likelihood that this particular application could be used against the current version of the game.
