Nintendo’s “Pokemon patent” just got brutally rejected by the US government

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A U.S. court has dealt a significant blow to Nintendo’s patent for a system that allows players to call upon characters to battle – a feature that had sparked controversy.

I was pretty surprised to hear about this patent that was granted last year. It basically covers the idea of summoning a character to fight, and you can either let the game play automatically or take full control yourself. Honestly, when it was first approved, a lot of legal experts and patent folks immediately said it seemed way too basic to actually be patentable. They argued it was just a really obvious game mechanic.

Nintendo’s Pokemon-style patent shot down by USPTO

According to GamesFray, a US Patent and Trademark Office examiner denied the patent application on March 2026, ruling that none of its 26 claims presented sufficiently novel ideas to qualify for a patent.

The judge didn’t even need to play any video games to make a decision. The case focused entirely on four existing patent applications – two from Nintendo and two from Konami and Bandai Namco – which all claimed the game feature was simply too common to be patented.

The head of the USPTO questioned the patent as early as November 2025 and requested a thorough review – a step patent specialists said was highly unusual. Ultimately, the review found that none of the patent’s claims were valid.

This decision has significant implications beyond just Nintendo. Nintendo sued Palworld’s developer, Pocketpair, in Japan earlier this year, and this patent was a key issue in a larger debate about whether big game companies could use overly broad patents to unfairly compete with and stifle smaller, independent studios creating games with comparable features.

The ruling isn’t the last word, as Nintendo has the option to appeal and fight the decision, which could take several months to resolve.

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2026-04-01 21:49