New Nintendo Patent Application Possibly Targeting Palworld Mobile

Nintendo is trying to secure a touchscreen patent from the same family cited in its ongoing patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. While the patent could potentially strengthen the company’s case by expanding its infringement claims to the upcoming mobile version of Palworld, Nintendo has so far struggled to get it approved.

The ongoing litigation, filed in September 2024, centers on allegations by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company that Palworld infringes on several of their jointly held patents covering creature-capture and mount-switching gameplay systems. Pocketpair has already changed some Palworld mechanics in response to the lawsuit through a mid-2025 update for its hit open-world survival game. Even so, the case remains active, and Nintendo has continued filing activity around patent families connected to the dispute.

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Nintendo Eyeing Another Prospective Anti-Palworld Patent

Continuing that effort, Nintendo has recently been trying to secure a touchscreen-focused patent (2026-019762) covering a monster-catching gameplay system in which players control movement through touch input, deploy capture items against field characters in and out of battle, and then receive a success-or-failure capture determination. Patent analyst Florian Mueller said the filing, if approved, could theoretically be useful against multiple current and upcoming games, including the Krafton-developed mobile version of Palworld and Tencent’s Roco Kingdom: World. The latter has been making waves in China as of late, surpassing 15 million day-one players in March 2026, but has yet to debut internationally.

Regardless of its prospective legal applications, Nintendo has so far failed to push the 2026-019762 patent over the finish line. The Japanese Patent Office recently rejected its claims again after the company had already amended the application in February 2026. That renewed rejection appears to be more than a routine delay, with the examiner in charge of the case noting that the application lacks an inventive step, meaning it failed to sufficiently distinguish itself from already known gameplay concepts and prior public material. The filing’s core elements—touchscreen controls, use of capture items outside of battle, and success-or-failure checks determining whether a creature has been obtained—were all deemed an obvious combination of established ideas rather than a novel invention worthy of a patent.

Cattiva vs Pikachu Palworld vs Pokemon fight red background with faint crt lines — A composite image featuring Cattiva from *Palworld* and Pikachu from *Pokemon* clashing on a red background. Faint CRT-like lines were added to the image using a color-burning blending mode.

Nintendo is free to amend its application again in response to the second rejection. It is unclear whether the company plans to do so. Another Nintendo creature-capture patent from the same family was also rejected on the basis of lacking originality in late 2025, though the company eventually secured approval for a narrower version in February 2026. A similar approach could be employed in this instance.

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Whether Nintendo would actually try to use this patent to strengthen its Palworld lawsuit, assuming it manages to secure it, remains unclear but plausible. The company modified one of its anti-Palworld patents in July 2025 while the case was already underway, so attempting to add more related rights during ongoing litigation would be consistent with its recent approach. Such moves are likely to further slow the court’s consideration of the lawsuit, which is particularly notable given that there are currently no clear signs Pocketpair and Nintendo are any closer to a settlement than they were a year ago.