TL;DR
- The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a non-final rejection of Nintendo's patent covering an in-game character summoning a sub-character to aid in battle, citing combinations of prior art references from published US patent applications.
- Nintendo has two months to respond to the rejection, with the option to appeal and extend, making this a setback rather than a definitive loss in the ongoing intellectual property battle with Pocketpair over Palworld.
The USPTO just handed Nintendo a problem in its ongoing Palworld case. The summoning patent, one of the mechanisms at the heart of the legal dispute with Pocketpair, has been rejected on prior art grounds. Not cancelled, not permanently invalidated, but meaningfully challenged at a critical point in the litigation.
The rejection is non-final, which matters. Nintendo has two months to respond and can appeal to extend that window.
What the USPTO Found
The rejection came down to prior art. The USPTO found that Nintendo's summoning mechanic patent, which covers a character summoning a sub-character to assist in combat, was anticipated or made obvious by combinations of two or three previously published US patent applications.
Prior art rejections are the most straightforward form of USPTO pushback. If someone else described or implemented the same idea in a patent application before yours was filed, your patent loses its claim to novelty. The fact that the summoning patent was initially approved in September 2025 before being placed under re-examination in November suggests the prior art wasn't surfaced or weighted appropriately during the original review.
Nintendo submitted the patent in March 2023 and had it approved before the re-examination request came in.
The Bigger Palworld Picture
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed suit against Pocketpair in September 2024, alleging infringement of multiple patent rights through Palworld. The lawsuit covers summoning mechanics, monster capture and release, and mounts, making it a broad attack on several core Palworld systems rather than a narrow single-patent claim.
Pocketpair has been navigating the litigation while continuing development. The company patched how players glide in May 2025 and removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres in November 2024, changes it acknowledged were "compromises" made to avoid disruption to Palworld's development and distribution.
"We remain involved in prolonged legal proceedings regarding alleged patent infringement," Pocketpair said at the time. "We continue to dispute these claims and assert the invalidity of the patents in question."
The USPTO rejection of the summoning patent is the first significant external validation of Pocketpair's position that these patents may not hold up under scrutiny.
What Happens Next
Nintendo's response window opens now. The company can argue against the prior art findings, distinguish its patent from the cited references, or appeal the rejection. None of those paths are closed. What's changed is that Nintendo now has to defend the patent's validity rather than wield it offensively.
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