• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    18
    edit-2
    9 hours ago

    I just filed a patent for white rice so now all you rice eaters owe me $20

    I don’t care if that isn’t how IP law works, should a thought about that before eating all that rice ya dingus

  • bitwolf
    link
    fedilink
    3012 hours ago

    Rooting for Palworld devs, I can think of several examples of prior art.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    3618 hours ago

    Worth reading the article, but for the TL:drs and comment readers:

    • A patent attorney has narrowed down the list of potential candidates that could be central to Nintendo’s lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair to 28 patents.
    • Out of those, one particular intellectual property describing creature-capture mechanics was labeled as a “killer patent” that would be difficult not to infringe when making a game with monster-taming elements.
    • The said property is part of a recently approved patent family consisting of three more patents, all of which were approved mere weeks before Nintendo and The Pokemon Company sued Pocketpair.
    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      169 hours ago

      If this is really Nintendo’s strategy, they’re going to be hosed, even in Japanese courts. Pokemon isn’t even the first game with these mechanics, Dragon Quest (a Square Enix property) and Shin Megami Tensei (an Atlas property) had the mechanic and came out before Pokemon, plus the original Pokemon released over 20 yeares ago.

    • If they only were awarded the patents recently, could they even still be used to site patent infringement on a game that was made and released well before Nintendo/Pokemon Co. got the patent(s)? I could have sworn these were NOT retroactive…

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    13722 hours ago

    This patent was first submitted in late July 2024 and granted the following month, after Nintendo and The Pokemon Company asked for an accelerated review process.

    What the fuck - so, they’re claiming infringement on a work that was released before they ever submitted their patent? How is that allowed? Are you telling me a company can wait until another company releases a similar product, then apply for a patent for something they used, then claim infringement? I knew patents were fucked, but I didn’t realize they were that fucked.

    • @ripcord
      link
      2517 hours ago

      Not in tbe US it’s not.

      An existing implementation would be prior art and make it EXTREMELY easy to get the patent invalidated.

    • Die4Ever
      link
      fedilink
      1516 hours ago

      yea that sounds nasty

      just don’t patent anything, other companies build a product around an unpatented idea, then you patent it and sue them? now their entire product is ruined??

      this makes no sense, that would mean the optimal play is to not patent anything until someone else starts doing it

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      8922 hours ago

      How is that allowed?

      Well it’s not, you aren’t supposed to be able to get a patent for something that already exists. But you know, corruption

    • @irish_link
      link
      5122 hours ago

      It’s not. In fact you know how this kind of patent gets invalidated, by pointing out what’s know as prior art. Things that did “this” before that patent was filed. So Palworlds and any other game that involves capturing a creature. This “killer patent” won’t stand up in Court unless the Japanese Court is entirely different than the US and German Courts.

      • sunzu2
        link
        fedilink
        2821 hours ago

        JP courts are corpo jokes and their IP laws are even big clown shoe than US.

        I take extra pleasure pirating JP product, fuck the corporate trash

  • recursive_recursion [they/them]
    link
    fedilink
    6622 hours ago

    Nintendo’s stagnated and has become a patent troll

    as someone that used to be a fan I’m sad as it’s hard to be hyped for any of their games when they’re widely known for pulling these kinds of scummy tactics time and time again

    indies be dammed, it’s too much of a risk to make Nintendo-inspired games let alone direct fan-games

      • @Valmond
        link
        1017 hours ago

        Ya their patent crap precedes year 2000

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      2122 hours ago

      It’s a shame you can’t support nintendo’s developers while excluding their legal department. Oh well, the high seas mean I still get to enjoy what I want to

    • @SomeGuy69
      link
      522 hours ago

      People can’t even make a mod that requires the base game to work.

  • Stern
    link
    2922 hours ago

    Does JP patent law not allow for prior art?

      • @Caesium
        link
        1918 hours ago

        JP law is fucked. I heard you could get sued for leaving a bad review at a restaurant