Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are being sued by a 34-year-old Iowan man. Nintendo is certainly no stranger to the courtroom. Nintendo has been sued on numerous occasions in the past, and in fact, it faced some legal trouble shortly after the release of Donkey Kong back in the early 80s. In that infamous court case, Universal filed a lawsuit against Nintendo, claiming that the company had violated its King Kong trademark with the Donkey Kong arcade game. Nintendo ultimately won the case, and built a reputation for winning in court more often than not.
Nintendo isn’t shy about filing lawsuits itself. The most well-known recent example is when Nintendo went after Palworld by claiming that the monster-catching game violated its patents. That particular lawsuit is still ongoing, with Palworld updating its game in response and Nintendo being denied certain patent applications that it presumably hoped to leverage in its legal battle.
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Why Nintendo and The Pokemon Company Are Being Sued
Now Nintendo is being sued yet again, with Iowan Kyle Owens filing a lawsuit against the company as well as The Pokemon Company International. As reported by KCRG, Owens was denied Pokemon Professor status by the companies and is seeking $341,000 in damages and the Pokemon Professor certification.
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Easy (15s)Medium (10s)Hard (5s)Permadeath (5s)
Owens had applied to become a Pokemon Professor in 2024, which requires taking an exam and passing a background check. The background check found a pending arrest warrant from another state “for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct by engaging in fighting; possessing, repairing or selling an offensive weapon; and criminal mischief through damage to property.” The Pokemon Company ultimately denied Owens access to the Pokemon Professor program after the background check, and the 100% he allegedly earned on the initial exam was changed to 80%. KCRG reported that, in the lawsuit, Owens claimed that he was initially denied because of an “old, low-level felony that was more than 10 years old,” but that The Pokemon Company later changed its rationale to point to “the three misdemeanor charges that do ‘not show guilty findings.'”
What is a Pokemon Professor?
Some Pokemon fans may be wondering what exactly a “Pokemon Professor” is. Named after the Professor characters in the video games and anime, a Pokemon Professor is able to work as “assistants, judges, and ambassadors” through the Play! Pokemon program. They have exclusive access to the Professor Store and are invited to competitive Pokemon events. A Pokemon Professor can also potentially host official competitive Pokemon events themselves. Owens’ inability to do these things is why the lawsuit states that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company denying him Pokemon Professor status “reduces competition and consumer access by eliminating a qualified, Iowa-based event host from the official, organized-play system,” according to KCRG.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
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At the time of this writing, neither Nintendo nor The Pokemon Company have responded to Owens’ lawsuit against them. Nintendo is typically not one to back down from a legal fight and has considerable resources at its disposal, though, and so it will definitely be interesting to see what happens and how it might impact the Pokemon Professor program moving forward.
