With the help of our friends over at GamesFray, we've been following Nintendo's aggressive legal posturing against Palworld creator Pocketpair in both the patent infringement challenge in Japan that's currently ongoing, and what looked to be Nintendo building a patent army in the US in preparation for filing a legal challenge closer to home.
In Nintendo's attempt to 'catch-em-all' and collect a bunch of legal filings specifically designed to trap the Palworld creators in litigation, they got a controversial "summon and fight" patent through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Essentially, trying to claim ownership over the mechanics of aiming an item, catching a monster, and then summoning it to fight in different modes.
Well... back in November, we reported that the patent in question had been pulled for closer scrutiny by the USPTO, and, officially, Nintendo has now been issued a stinging non-final rejection of the patent. Not just a few parts of it, all 26 of the patent's claims have been rejected. Ouch.
