Nintendo patented monster-summoning. Will they use this to bully competitors?
Over the last ten days, Nintendo won two patents that might damage the industry in the long run. Yesterday, they won the US patent 12,409,387, which covers riding and flying mechanics. What's even worse is the patent Nintendo won last week: US patent 12,403,397 is a patent on summoning and battling characters.
Many are certain that this patent came about as a result of the Palworld legal dispute. Palworld's developer Pocketpair was sued by The Pokémon Company in September 2024 because of its similarities to Pokémon. Over the course of the lawsuit, Pocketpair had to change aspects of the game.
With this new patent, it might be easier for Nintendo to bully competitors, no matter how little they seem to be inspired by Pokémon. "Summoning a character and letting it fight enemies" is such a broad description that many games can be targeted; even the new auto-battler Honkai: Nexus Anima uses those mechanics.
A Messy Case
According to video game patent lawyer Kirk Sigmon, these patents are representative of the irregularities in the decision making of US patent officials.
Broadly, I don't disagree with the many online complaints about these Nintendo patents. They have been an embarrassing failure of the US patent system.
Apparently, the patent was initially deemed invalid due to its similarities to a parent case. After Nintendo changed the claims based on interviews with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), they determined the claims were allowable "for the same reason as the parent application".
Kirk Sigmon says that the parent case "had an even weirder and much less useful prosecution history". According to him, the USPTO essentially gave up and just allowed the patent, assuming its claims were specific enough.
I strongly disagree with this result: In my view, these claims were in no way allowable.
The Consequences
Nintendo could use those patents to fight smaller developers, and some might think twice before implementing mechanics that are inspired by or reminiscent of Pokémon. This could further Nintendo's monopoly on the market with certain games like Pokémon.
Kirk Sigmon believes that patents are meant to protect people, "not allow big players to bully would-be-competition with the threat of a legally questionable lawsuit".
The USPTO dropped the ball big time, and it's going to externalize a lot of uncertainty (and, potentially, litigation cost) onto developers and companies that do not deserve it.
Nintendo's public standing is getting worse over time. How do you handle news like this that show a darker side to the company that stands for family-friendly fun? Could Nintendo go for the throat of the many other monster taming titles?