• @SSJMarx@lemm.ee
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    111 day ago

    Nintendo being shitty? Just another Thursday. What’s more it’s a SOFTWARE PATENT lawsuit, which means that it’s the one kind of lawsuit that’s even more fucked than a sketchy ass copyright lawsuit would be. Nintendo wants to make it so that nobody else can make a game with fun creatures that you catch, collect, ride around, etc.

  • KoboldKomrade [he/him]
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    381 day ago

    Joke lawsuit. The only valid response is a fedposting to any lawyer or judge who decides to waste time arbitrating whether or not a soulless husk can own a concept.

    • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
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      1 day ago

      To be fair I saw one “Pal” that just straight up used Zoruas model.

      Nintendo never cared about stuff like Digimon or Cassette Beasts, so I’m guessing the problem is actual models made by Nintendo were used. Buuuuut this is Nintendo and they sent people cease and desists over Pokemon fan games FFS, so who the hell knows.

      I mean, Palwords developers are skeezy, but on the other hand so is Nintendo, also fuck copyright.

      • doublepepperoni [none/use name]OP
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        281 day ago

        Since it’s a patent lawsuit they’re going after game mechanics rather than character designs, but we don’t know which mechanics yet

      • Anvil_Lavigne [she/her, they/them]
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        231 day ago

        Digimon

        i get that they’re commonly seen as rivals outside of japan (because saban localised the anime w/ the very intention of challenging pokemon, instead of leveraging the obvious differences), but like, if nintendo had gone after digimon, they’d be going after literally anything featuring monsters. the original 1997 iteration of digital monster was “tamagotchi for boys,” which is where battling & evolution comes in comrade-raccoon

        obv the similar names might seem awfully sus, but as i understand, the abbreviating of names like that is fairly common in japan. like, if we knew the franchises as pocket monster & digital monster, there would still be a similarity there, but it would seem less egregious ig.

        thank u for suffering my autism

      • Infamousblt [any]
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        191 day ago

        Honestly Nintendo has had some big wins lately getting people to fold rather than fight in court even when the fight should be winnable. Maybe they’re just hoping that happens here too. Get these guys all tied up in court even if Nintendo knows they won’t win just to keep the Palworld devs occupied with the court fight rather than making their game

    • @SSJMarx@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      In another thread someone linked Nintendo’s patent on mounting a creature and being able to both fly through the air and run along the ground while riding said creature.

      We don’t know what Nintendo is suing about yet, and it’s possible they have something real like they found out that the devs ripped an asset from a pokemon game and tweaked it with AI like a lot of people were speculating at one point, but right now I’m leaning towards this lawsuit is fucked and if Nintendo gets away with it they will be stifling every game with collectable creatures in the industry.

      • keepcarrot [she/her]
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        522 hours ago

        That does not sound like a real patent. Or at least something that should not be a real patent

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]OP
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      1 day ago

      They didn’t specify which patents were being infringed upon. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. It’s in Japan so I assume Nintendo’s got this in the bag

      • PKMKII [none/use name]
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        171 day ago

        According to a Mastodon post, the speculation is it’s over “patents such as one for throwing and using Poké Balls in a 3D space (JP,2023-092953,A); and one for automatically switching between ride Pokémon as a player transitions between different terrain, such as between air and the ground (JP,2023-092954,A)."

        IANAL, certainly not in Japanese patent law, but the first one sounds stronger to me, but still not bulletproof.

          • huf [he/him]
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            381 day ago

            the idea of patents were sold to us with this romantic tale of the lone inventor being able to live off his genius.

            none of that is real. patents are absurd and should be abolished, just like copyright (sold to us with a similar fairytale).

            • PKMKII [none/use name]
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              151 day ago

              The fundamental flaw with patents is being transferrable and the property model of them. Within the context of the current political economy, it would make more sense if someone used another’s patent commercially, the patent holder just gets a tax credit equal to some small percentage of the sales. And sweet Jesus the entire concept of being able to buy and sell patent rights is fucked up.🔝

          • Belly_Beanis [he/him]
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            41 day ago

            AFAIK game mechanics in the US can’t be patented, especially board games. It’s one of the few things American copyright law isn’t fucking stupid about.

        • Roonerino [they/them]
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          181 day ago

          That latter one is interesting because I can think of multiple MMOs with mounts that worked that way long before Nintendo did it. But I guess Nintendo is the only company that bothered to patent it in Japan.

  • nothx [he/him]
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    371 day ago

    lol nice.

    Fuck Nintendo, but this is funny to me because it’s just another cash grab early access game by a pop up game studio. they are about to spend all their profits on litigation and then abandon the game just like the rest of their projects.

    • Goadstool [he/him, comrade/them]
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      151 day ago

      Watching pokemon knock-offs build assault rifles in a sweat shop in a trailer for this game was one of the most edgelord things I’ve ever fucking seen. Cringy ass game, cringy ass devs. Fuck them and fuck Nintendo, too.

      let-them-fight

      • StalinStan [none/use name]
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        723 hours ago

        There was a meme where people would kidnap the police and force them to work in the mines. That was pretty good though

      • nothx [he/him]
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        81 day ago

        100% agree. The game looked like dog ass from the get-go. My disdain for it only grew as all the rubes who spent $30 bucks on it tried to defend it and tell me it’s good. I knew it wasn’t and I know the hype would fade within a week.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
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        1 day ago

        “You don’t have to do edgelord shit featured in the game’s promotional materials, but if you don’t, you’re just playing knock-off Pokemon with that edgelord shit in the background.” smuglord

  • UlyssesT [he/him]
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    241 day ago

    Nintendo is the Disney of bideo bames, is up to the same kind of skullduggery, and has a similar toxic fandom that’ll go to the mat for them.

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]OP
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      1 day ago

      It was one more Steam early access survival crafting game, though it made quite a big splash due to the novelty of having pokey men in it

  • goose [he/him]
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    251 day ago

    When Palworld came out, I was surprised that the ever-litigious Nintendo didn’t take some sort of legal action. So to all the people on here who thought that was a bad take and called me out, all I have to say now is: you’re lovely and I appreciate you

  • StalinStan [none/use name]
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    201 day ago

    Having played palworld it is a significantly diffrent product. I don’t see specifics in thr article but it is unclear to me what the actual claim could be

  • Starlet [she/her, it/its]
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    61 day ago

    If Pocketpair were American, I honestly think they might have a chance. But from what I’ve heard, Tokyo District Courts aren’t likely to rule against Nintendo.