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[Reizo Ryuu]

They couldn't sue "half the industry" because of the alice ruling in 2014
If the patent doesn't stand up to the alice test in the US, then it becomes invalid:

In short, such patents, although frequently dressed up in the argot of invention, simply describe a problem, announce purely functional steps that purport to solve the problem, and recite standard computer operations to perform some of those steps. The principal flaw in these patents is that they do not contain an "inventive concept" that solves practical problems and ensures that the patent is directed to something "significantly more than" the ineligible abstract idea itself.

I don't believe you can even file such patents in the EU, so that leaves just japan.

 

[StereoVsn]

The only reason they are suing is because Palworld sold 25 million copies and it copied a bunch of Pokémon designs, this probably made some people at Nintendo very mad.

Then they should have sued based on that. I really hope some of their BS parents get invalidated, but if this all stays in Japan then probably won’t happen.

 

[ReyBrujo]

So they are master patent trolls then?

Technically a patent troll owns patents (usually obtained by buying them from bankrupt companies for a very low price) but doesn't use them for actual development, only for suing.

Nintendo is basically the new Apple when it comes to patentd.

Apple is kindergarten level. Nintendo is the IBM of videogames. And I'm pretty sure that had Nintendo been an American company they would have registered way more patents than IBM (who owns more patents than Apple and Microsoft together). Their engineers just didn't patent software as much as hardware.

Didn't they patent palworld stuff after game launched?

The parent patent was obtained before Palworld launch, back in 2021 I believe. Out of that one they branched out several patents for specific use cases, requested after Palworld launch I believe. Usually when you contest a patent you claim there existed prior work, however in this case the prior work belongs to Nintendo so I guess (IANAL) the registration entity allowed them to get it almost 30 years after its first 2D usage.

Again, as a developer fix the fucking system. Software patents last 20 years which is a HUGE amount of time for technology.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Nintendo intentionally “overpatents” their work because it serves primarily as a shield against patent trolls. But they can be used as a sword against others, and the fact that they are targeting Palworld over patent infringement rather than copyright means their attorneys know they can’t steer and land that argument in court.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

The whole patent system sounds like it needs a complete overhaul on what can and can’t be patented. This lawsuit can set a really bad precedent.

It’s all been settled for decades and decades the world over. It’s not that it doesn’t work. It’s just that a lot of people clearly don’t understand it.

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

People forgot how Edge debate ended? One day Nintendo will sue the wrong company.

Remind us.

 

[LordCBH]

I’m sorry, but most of these things shouldn’t patentable. Absolutely fucking absurd.

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

Based on initial responses you can really tell who and who didnt watch the video. You guys have a really strong hate boner for Nintendo lmao

Brushing aside the inherent pettiness of the lawsuit itself, if they really did patent this after PalWorld launched, I hope they lose and have to pay court costs.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

 

[Holammer]

Remind us.

 

[DJ12]

Didn't they patent palworld stuff after game launched?

Apple patented a rectangle with rounded corners as a phone design, despite the LG Prada already existing.

Get a favourable patent judge you can do anything you want.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Patents in video games is just straight up BS. Be creative. If someone copies you take it as a compliment and make an even better game the next time. You wanna talk about something holding gaming back? Being afraid to do anything because you might get sued by a big company like Nintendo. Eff that. These stupid patents are handicapping the gaming industry.

 

[Skeptical]

Does anyone actually do their own research anymore?

I'm not a programmer and I'm not a lawyer. But I did search through Nintendo's patents to try to find what this person was talking abut (full disclosure; I only looked through US patents). I think this is the one he was talking about: 9256979. Here's the initial claim (which is always the most generic one):

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising an image display program that is executed by a computer of an image display apparatus that is configured to take an image of a virtual three-dimensional space in which a first object and a second object are present, by a virtual camera and render the virtual three-dimensional space, the image display program causing the computer to: generate a silhouette image for representing a silhouette of the first object when the first object overlaps at least a part of the second object and the overlapping portion of the first object is hidden by the second object when seen from the virtual camera, in which in the silhouette image, gradation information changes in accordance with a distance from the second object to each part of the first object, the silhouette image is textured independent of light from a light source in the virtual three-dimensional space; generate an image of the second object that is seen from the virtual camera; and synthesize the silhouette image on the image of the second object that is seen from the virtual camera by using the gradation information to shade the silhouette image darker at a portion thereof corresponding to a part of the first object closer to the second object, and lighter at a portion thereof corresponding to a part of the first object farther from the second object.

Again, I am not a programmer nor a lawyer. But this is far more specific than "the character can still be seen as a shadow" as the quote from the article says. My reading of it (as well as the rest of the patent) is that the patent is more about a method to create gradations within the shadow (and possibly the specific rendering techniques) rather than just "hey, you can just render a shadow!". In other words, it is NOT a patent troll and is NOT something that is "in like every single isometric game" as this Toto guy says. You can argue whether that should still be allowed or not, but it is clearly not as egregious as everyone was making it out to be.

Or, in other words, this is 60 replies worth of fake news or disinformation or whatever your favorite word is. Don't believe everything you read on the internet, people.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

It's justified. It's the most vile company in the industry by far

More vile than EA, Microsoft, Embracer, Tencent, and Nexxon?

 

[Draugoth]

Then they should have sued based on that. I really hope some of their BS parents get invalidated, but if this all stays in Japan then probably won’t happen.

They couldn't, that's why they went for patent suing.

 

[rubik's dude]

Not taking sides, but with how litigious Nintendo is known to be, creating a game that could very easily, if almost intentionally, be considered a copy of their most famous IP probably wasn't the smartest idea.

Like, if I'm tickling a bear, I can't exactly be surprised if the bear starts thrashing me.

 

[mitch1971]

I'm gonna patent moving right in a video game. Deal with that Devs, you fuckers!!

 

[nkarafo]

Maybe current patent law needs to be reconsidered if you can sue for ridiculous shit like this.

Sega holds a pattern for smooth camera transitions in racing games when you change views.

That's why in Sega racing games you see the camera smoothly going in and out of the car, which looks nice IMO, while in every other game it's an instant toggle.

As an arcade racing fan this always annoyed me to no end.

 

[Musashipan]

I hope they suck every yen from palworld
Good job goddess Nintendo

 

[Neff]

I said much the same thing in the other thread. You can get away with a lot when it comes to 'borrowing' from Nintendo, but if you don't show any restraint, as Palworld's developers didn't, then you should expect them to go for your throat.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

I hope they suck every yen from palworld
Good job goddess Nintendo

They will suck. It won't be yens, though.

 

[Dacvak]

There’s an unwritten agreement in the games industry about borrowing patents from rival companies. I forget the exact details, but like say Nintendo patented a Stamina bar mechanic, and Sony patented a parry mechanic, the unwritten rule is that companies that play nice with their patents are free to use other companies’ patents.

Or something like that. I don’t really know the details, I think I saw a YouTube video on this at one point. So I might just be wrong.

 

[Bashtee]

I said much the same thing in the other thread. You can get away with a lot when it comes to 'borrowing' from Nintendo, but if you don't show any restraint, as Palworld's developers didn't, then you should expect them to go for your throat.

Going for the throat by abusing the patent system and draining the competitor with legal fees should be illegal, and people who use it this way should be held accountable.
Nintendo and the Pokemon Company were ridiculed by an early-access indie game. The game delivered the first real HD Pals before Nintendo even achieved 1080p with its consoles.

I hope they suck every yen from palworld
Good job goddess Nintendo

Here is the perfect Pokemon for you and your tastebuds:

 

[Dacvak]

There’s an unwritten agreement in the games industry about borrowing patents from rival companies. I forget the exact details, but like say Nintendo patented a Stamina bar mechanic, and Sony patented a parry mechanic, the unwritten rule is that companies that play nice with their patents are free to use other companies’ patents.

Or something like that. I don’t really know the details, I think I saw a YouTube video on this at one point. So I might just be wrong.

Found the YouTube video. Definitely worth a watch, it’s pretty interesting.

 

[Fahdis]

I hope they suck every yen from palworld
Good job goddess Nintendo

There it is. The Red Tapeworm.

 

[SweetTooth]

I'm gonna patent moving right in a video game. Deal with that Devs, you fuckers!!

Daamn, you will cripple 75% of Nintendo games!

 

[Aenima]

The whole patent system sounds like it needs a complete overhaul on what can and can’t be patented. This lawsuit can set a really bad precedent.

Yeah kinda. I was expecting Nintendo to go after Palworld for the monster design but instead they are going after them for game mechanics that are very vague and used in other games. At this point someone can just patent a health bar and all of a sudden any game that has an healthbar in the game needs to pay a fee to display the mob or character health. Its ridiculous and kinda of a disgusting practice by Nintendo.

 

[NanaMiku]

"They have a patent on when you have an isometric view, and then a character is covered by a tree, for example, the character can still be seen as a shadow," Toto says. "This is in like every single isometric game. They had the desire back in 2017 to spit in Colopl's bowl, and came up with these patents." Nintendo's sweeping list of patents means it likely "could have sued half of the gaming industry back in 2017," according to Toto.

Ah, I remember this case.

What Exactly was the Issue in the Lawsuit Between Nintendo and Colopl?|MONOLITH LAW OFFICE | Tokyo, Japan

In recent years, the popularity of gaming has surged due to the advancement of the internet and the

monolith.law

 

[mitch1971]

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising an image display program that is executed by a computer of an image display apparatus that is configured to take an image of a virtual three-dimensional space in which a first object and a second object are present, by a virtual camera and render the virtual three-dimensional space, the image display program causing the computer to: generate a silhouette image for representing a silhouette of the first object when the first object overlaps at least a part of the second object and the overlapping portion of the first object is hidden by the second object when seen from the virtual camera, in which in the silhouette image, gradation information changes in accordance with a distance from the second object to each part of the first object, the silhouette image is textured independent of light from a light source in the virtual three-dimensional space; generate an image of the second object that is seen from the virtual camera; and synthesize the silhouette image on the image of the second object that is seen from the virtual camera by using the gradation information to shade the silhouette image darker at a portion thereof corresponding to a part of the first object closer to the second object, and lighter at a portion thereof corresponding to a part of the first object farther from the second object.

This seem like the equivalent of a artist patenting a brush technique. Seems rediculous.

 

[RCU005]

The lawsuit of Palworld is probably not about it being "Pokemon with guns" but about their characters' designs being a complete ripoff of Pokemon.

 

[chromhound]

I doubt Nintendo will win this

 

[StereoVsn]

I doubt Nintendo will win this

In Japan they could. If they brought this in US or EU, that’s unlikely, especially the latter.

 

[ReyBrujo]

There’s an unwritten agreement in the games industry about borrowing patents from rival companies. I forget the exact details, but like say Nintendo patented a Stamina bar mechanic, and Sony patented a parry mechanic, the unwritten rule is that companies that play nice with their patents are free to use other companies’ patents.

Not only in the games industry but the software industry as a whole. Companies patent things but almost never go against others because nobody wants to begin a nuclear apocalypse. That hiatus was kind of broken when SCO sued IBM back in the early 2000s and then again when Oracle sued Google over Java API usage.

 

[Dafegamer]

Did Nintendo invent the Isometric view in Games? How can they have patents in such things?

 

[Musashipan]

Going for the throat by abusing the patent system and draining the competitor with legal fees should be illegal, and people who use it this way should be held accountable.
Nintendo and the Pokemon Company were ridiculed by an early-access indie game. The game delivered the first real HD Pals before Nintendo even achieved 1080p with its consoles.


Here is the perfect Pokemon for you and your tastebuds:

I don't even like pokemon
Last game I played was stadium, just for mini games

 

[yogaflame]

Well deserved lawsuit for me. But off topic, may I ask if DOTA sued Mobile legend?

 

[Robb]

Did Nintendo invent the Isometric view in Games? How can they have patents in such things?

They haven’t patented that. I assume it refers specifically to this (Mario inside the tree), i.e. a shadow model of the character that appears when behind other in-game models in order to make it easier to keep track of where you are:

and even then I’m pretty sure other devs can do similar things if they want to, their solution to the problem just can’t work the exact same way as Nintendo’s approach to it.