Those familiar with Nintendo are likely aware of the company’s litigious proclivities (that is, except when a certain governmental body is using its intellectual property to promote the brutalization of human beings). And scoring a patent for summoning monsters and having them fight on your behalf, known as the “397 patent,” was an essential victory in Nintendo’s battle against “Pokémon with guns” survival game Palworld. Patenting a game mechanic is nothing new, but this particular patent has been regarded by many as, well, absurd, and acquiring it hasn’t exactly been the victory the Pokémon Company seems to have been hoping for in its quest to deal Palworld an irreversible loss.
Read More: Nintendo Was Just Dealt A Big Blow In Its Battle Against Palworld
Joining the chorus of folks saying “this is silly” is Trump nominee John A. Squires, director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (h/t IGN). Squires has highlighted two older patent applications from Konami and Nintendo as “prior art” that might invalidate Nintendo’s claim to owning the concept this particular patent focuses on. As a result, Squires has ordered the merits of the controversial 397 Patent to be reconsidered.
It doesn’t look good for Nintendo’s aggressive efforts.
Some, such as Games Fray’s Florian Mueller, are describing this move by Squires as a major loss for the company. As Mueller notes, Squires has not ordered the patent to be yanked. Reexamination orders, according to Mueller, “can result in a patent being upheld.” But this specific Pokemon case seems unlikely to be one of those situations. Nintendo has two months to respond to the reexamination, and in that time other companies are free to challenge the merits of the patent.
These days it feels hopeless to expect any sort of fairness or equitable decision-making to come out of the federal government, but it seems like, at the very least, Nintendo’s power grab might be reined in.
