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[BlackTron]

Are you a lawyer?

No, but I used to spend a lot of time with lawyers and shoot the shit about cases. I don't see why it matters. Are you guys lawyers? You seem to have an opinion as well.

 

[Toots]

So everyone just stole from Toriyama ???

 

[hinch7]

unless nintendo literally has a patent on catching monsters in a ball, I doubt they can actually make a patent infringement argument. imo this is lawfare by nintendo intended to skate on general tech confusion and also bleed pocketpair. their approach to the YUZU lawsuit was similar.

Agreed. Patent trolling at its finest and they will go hard to shut them down. Not sure how you can patent open world capturing of creatures that design has been done in numerous games. But with a ball. Its just Palworld stepped on their toes with their popularity and designs.

But hey patent trolling is a thing. Its just looks really petty coming from a billions dollar corp; and will stoop to that level to stamp out some competition.

 

[Topher]

No, but I used to spend a lot of time with lawyers and shoot the shit about cases. I don't see why it matters. Are you guys lawyers? You seem to have an opinion as well.

No, I'm certainly not, but you are talking about what "tactics" you would use but since you are not a lawyer you really have no idea. All this "trade dress" talk has nothing to do with the lawsuit. You can keep bringing it up if you want, I guess, but it is irrelevant.

 

[BlackTron]

Look -I'm not making up rules about trade dress here. Whether Palworld falls under an infringement of it is up to the judge. Nintendo may prefer a tactic they perceive more bullet-proof first if they have a patent.

The other angle is not opening with your strongest ammo. You lure the other party into giving away their whole hand first. When they can no longer maneuver and are out of ammo, you hit them with the big Mama. My point is anyone thinking they can tell exactly what Nintendo has, what they think is infringing, and what their plans are, because they announced the lawsuit and this patent, is delusional.

 

[adamsapple]

Good luck to the Palworld team, lawyers.

 

[Rambone]

Nintendo should put more pressure on Game Freak to be able to compete with Palworld and their developers rather than focusing on destroying them.

While they are on that, Nintendo should be releasing hardware that can also brute force these lazy ass designs like the latest Pokemon so that we (the gamers) can enjoy a modicum of performance without compromise to fidelity and scope. It's time for Switch 1 to be put to bed, Switch 2 can't be released soon enough. I just hope it sells well enough that devs completely abandon Switch 1 development as I don't want to see scope of what a game CAN be by limiting it so that it can fit within the confines of the Switch 1.

 

[Natsuko]

You're assuming they have actually infringed anything at all.

As I have already written, it is up to the courts to decide. In my personal opinion, however, I am anything but surprised that this has happened. I think Palworld is pretty damn close to Pokémon. The whole thing is just paired with the usual survival game mechanics. I don't think Palworld is very original. I played it for a while with the kids. But the multiplayer is pretty bitchy. That's why I lost interest quite quickly. We will see how this case turns out. But it's hard to deny that the Palworld developers were playing with fire.

 

[HogIsland]

Look -I'm not making up rules about trade dress here. Whether Palworld falls under an infringement of it is up to the judge. Nintendo may prefer a tactic they perceive more bullet-proof first if they have a patent.

The other angle is not opening with your strongest ammo. You lure the other party into giving away their whole hand first. When they can no longer maneuver and are out of ammo, you hit them with the big Mama. My point is anyone thinking they can tell exactly what Nintendo has, what they think is infringing, and what their plans are, because they announced the lawsuit and this patent, is delusional.

"trade dress" is of the category trademark, which is separate from patents.

also you're repeatedly referencing morality.

 

[BlackTron]

No, I'm certainly not, but you are talking about what "tactics" you would use but since you are not a lawyer you really have no idea. All this "trade dress" talk has nothing to do with the lawsuit. You can keep bringing it up if you want, I guess, but it is irrelevant.

I wouldn't advise anyone to pay for my legal opinion but I would recommend it for free over average GAF poster. Yeah I shot the shit with lawyers but the reason I connected with them to begin with was being in lawsuits myself which completely opened my eyes to how this game is played.

That's as deep as I'll get into it.

 

[BlackTron]

"trade dress" is of the category trademark, which is separate from patents.

No shit. Read the rest of the thread.

I'm out

 

[Fabieter]

Its not that. They are suing for patent infringement which are some of the game mechanics. Which is even worse.

They're only doing this so they can put them and their competition under. If you can call them that. And sending a message.

Oh if that's it than I disagree with nintendo. Except if they have evidence that they stole code or something!

 

[Dr.Morris79]

This is why we need physical copies..

 

[finalflame]

"Creative ideas"

 

[Topher]

I wouldn't advise anyone to pay for my legal opinion but I would recommend it for free over average GAF poster. Yeah I shot the shit with lawyers but the reason I connected with them to begin with was being in lawsuits myself which completely opened my eyes to how this game is played.

That's as deep as I'll get into it.

Well.....if we hear of "trade dress" mentioned during this debacle then I'll shout out to you.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I wouldn't advise anyone to pay for my legal opinion but I would recommend it for free over average GAF poster. Yeah I shot the shit with lawyers but the reason I connected with them to begin with was being in lawsuits myself which completely opened my eyes to how this game is played.

That's as deep as I'll get into it.

i 100% understand what you're trying to say, all i'm saying is that it corroborates with the idea of Nintendo attempting to use a lawsuit to curb competition.

There's a game they don't like existing but the game in question isn't really clearly infringing on anything of them, so they find something, any technicality, to destroy competition and maintain a monopoly. Simple as that, and no one besides nintendo has a reason to support this.

 

[Pagusas]

So did Nintendo just wait for them to have money so they could swoop in and take it? Why such a long delay on this?

 

[SHA]

Palworld and now inZOI, the days for intellectual properties are over.

 

[BlackTron]

i 100% understand what you're trying to say, all i'm saying is that it corroborates with the idea of Nintendo attempting to use a lawsuit to curb competition.

There's a game they don't like existing but the game in question isn't really clearly infringing on anything of them, so they find something, any technicality, to destroy competition and maintain a monopoly. Simple as that, and no one besides nintendo has a reason to support this.

All I'm trying to say is that it's extremely coincidental that the one monster collecting game that Nintendo "looks for" something to use to shut down so happens to be the one title that blatantly copies Nintendo's trade dress. Everyone thinks it's silly I keep bringing that up but it's literally the difference between Palword and Dragon Quest, which everyone uses as an example of Nintendo "doing the same thing". I'm just gonna copy/paste some shit.

Trade dress can be defined as the overall commercial look and feel of a product. It's the way that consumers identify your goods and sets them apart from others. Like trademarks, trade dress is protected under The Lanham Act and can be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Also similar to trademarks, it must be inherently distinctive — and non-functional — in order to receive federal protection.

The packaging of a product, how it is configured, and the visual aspects of the product used for promotional purposes are all elements of trade dress. Critically, any functional aspects of a product are not considered. Only the product's design can be protected as trade dress — an element that is useful for a specific functional purpose cannot.


Trade dress can apply to colors, shapes, sizes, textures, designs, ornamental arrangements, and other non-functional parts of a product's packaging.

Trade dress protection offers several advantages. It can sometimes be considered broader than a design patent because it attaches to any confusingly similar design. Additionally, trade dress protection is not limited to a 15-year term, like a design patent, and can continue for as long as the trade dress is used commercially in the marketplace.

So why not protect every product design as trade dress? First, product trade dress is not protectable unless it has “acquired distinctiveness” in the minds of consumers.
The Coca-Cola bottle serves as an example; its distinctive shape immediately invokes consumer association with the brand, demonstrating its acquired distinctiveness. However, proving acquired distinctiveness can be difficult and usually requires consumer survey evidence or other more costly endeavors. As a result, trade dress protection is less common than design patent protection for product designs.

Trade dress can be protected only if the owner of the trade dress can show the average consumer would be confused as to the origin of a product if another product appears in the same or similar packaging.

See my point? It's easy to form a legal opinion that trade dress was violated when you know the definition. And also that you might throw a patent first to save yourself some pain. Stolen from other thread:

Look at the eyes, the shape and contour of the mouth, it takes the design elements that invoke a Pokemon. If it was a Pokemon card you wouldn't bat an eyelash and think it was 100% Nintendo.

The reason I say it crosses both a legal and moral line is that this is obviously done intentionally, dilutes the brand and is not necessary.

 

[Evil Calvin]

According to reports, it is probably about catching with the Pokéball or, in this case, the Pallsphere. However, other reports mention several patents. Someone in the other thread posted this a few hours ago.

Whether this is ultimately a violation will have to be decided by judges and not by the forum.

Didn't Pokemon blatantly ripoff tons of elements from Dragon Quest decades ago?

 

[BlackTron]

So did Nintendo just wait for them to have money so they could swoop in and take it? Why such a long delay on this?

Yeah the lapse of time is intentional. They let them build up offenses while they built up their strategy. More than taking the money, the fact that Palworld made it helps Nintendo.

 

[NeverYouMind]

I hope after litigation they counter sue Nintendo for abusing litigation. Best case scenario is a European court decides to press the issue further and extort Nintendo. Hope Nintendo gets ripped a new one.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

they fighting in court:

 

[Kataploom]

People fighting over this as if we had any details of the actual objects of the litigation, what are they complaining about, exactly? Some just want to shit on Nintendo even tho whenever Nintendo lawyers attack they have an actual fair and valid case, and some want to attack Palworld because of "blatant ripoff" or whatever. Let's wait for more details to come up before any judgement.

 

[laynelane]

Lol, in the real world nobody cares about this. This is not a presidential election

It's difficult to say whether the "real world" cares about this. However, many members of the gaming community do. According to you, we're not part of the world but I'll go ahead and disagree with you on that.

 

[Buggy Loop]

I should read what patent means in french then. The gameplay is nothing like Pokemon as far as I know?

Un brevet sur une mécanique de jeu. Copyright serait des droits d'auteurs, donc les copies trop semblables dans l'art/musique/litérature, etc.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Not into Pokemon or Pal World but I'll cheer for Palworld in this case.

 

[Hugare]

I hate how Nintendo deals with this kind of shit, but I just cant deffend Palworld here

Palworld is just shameless. Like, changing eye colour from some Pokemon and saying "yup, this is fine".

I always thought that Palworld devs would be bulletproof tho since they are from China and Nintendo wouldnt be able to touch them there. Interesting.

 

[Icymanipulator]

I hope they win. Fuck Nintendo

 

[NickFire]

From pursuing their creative ideas or someone else's?

 

[StereoVsn]

Grafting in Satisfactory doesn't mean it's not a monster collecting RPG anymore.

I said "same type of product". Porn parody is the same type of product as the source its ripped from? Parody is protected, ask Weird Al. Parodies getting away with it doesn't prove you can on every circumstance.

McDonalds can shut down a burger joint called McDonalds but not "McDonald & Sons" machine shop. This is the relevance of being the "same type of product".

What about McDowells and Golden Arcs?

 

[Robb]

I always thought that Palworld devs would be bulletproof tho since they are from China

Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo.

 

[Hugare]

Robb , damn I swear I saw somewhere that they were chinese.

Took them long enough to get sued, then.

 

[Robb]

Robb , damn I swear I saw somewhere that they were chinese.

Took them long enough to get sued, then.

Yeah, I had that impression as well for whatever reason.. Not sure why.

 

[Codes 208]

Theres a difference between direct inspiration and taking a design, putting a hat on top and calling it yours

Palworld designs are like the epitome of that “Original character, plz don’t steal!” Meme

 

[ntropy]

i wonder if the same people who have no qualms of Palworld's "creative ideas" also complain about sequels and derivative titles

 

[Danjin44]

Only thing they have in common is that based on same animal, the actual designs very different from each other

 

[Herbspiceguy]

I'm not for or against the devs or Nintendo in this one, but I'm not feeling the indie dev morale high ground spin, particularly because Palworld is not exactly a bastion of creativeness. They took the tried and proven sandbox survival/crafting genre and combined it with the tried and proven monster capturing concept.

 

[Utamaru1706]

lol, Nintendo's efforts in patenting their game mechanics is finally comes to fruition, because they definitely don't want to experience another Genshin fiasco on their hand, where they can't do anything when Hoyoverse were allegedly using some of BotW's mechanics on Genshin, since they didn't patent the gameplay mechanics (they started doing it during TotK, though).

 

[BlackTron]

The title is comedy gold.

They should have left it that way lol.

 

[mckmas8808]

I hope Sony and/or Microsoft is supporting Pocketpair behind the scene. Fuck Nintendo.

 

[R6Rider]

"Creative ideas"

 

[newtypepilot]

Get your heads out of the sands, people. Palworld is a pokemon ripoff in all but the legal sense. They changed or added things just enough so that it's not a direct clone, but there are still many similarities.

Whether Nintendo has a case is a separate matter. However, the fact it took them like a year before taking legal action says they believe they have a strong case. I don't think they are patent trolling, because they never sued digimon.

 

[TheChadOfGaming]

 

[KINGMOKU]

Never played a pokeman game in my life, but, seeing the replies in here, I have decided to back Nintendo on this one.

One would think the betting line would as well, yes?

 

[nikolino840]

Fighting against the system

 

[Zacfoldor]

There's the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

Though copying designs and slightly altering them to sell yourself as "Pokemon with Guns" might adhere to the letter of the law, if the spirit is broken, good luck in court. Especially since you will be villainized because of "with guns." Taking a game aimed at a younger demographic and putting "with guns" in it is going to lose in court against wholesome Nintendo. They will shut you down.

 

[DaichiChan]

Well if Nintendo lawyer shows the judge how to throw a palball on this *lucario* palword thing side by side with original pokeball throwing at original lucario - it's done.

 

[AFBT88]

I love Nintendo but i hate them as well.

 

[DryvBy]

Palworld should claim they're a parody of Pokemon, and therefore it's protected under first amendment.