If Nintendo wins did it only effect in Japan?

[ice22ice22ice_]

It sound like Nintendo is Japanese government.

[Sen (Naughty Senpai)]

If Nintendo wins their lawsuit against Pocketpair over Palworld, several outcomes are possible. Nintendo could obtain a court order to stop Pocketpair from selling or distributing Palworld, effectively removing the game from the market. Pocketpair might be required to pay significant financial compensation to Nintendo for any profits made from Palworld and for damages related to the infringement. Additionally, Pocketpair could be forced to alter Palworld to remove any elements that infringe on Nintendo’s patents or intellectual property. Alternatively, the case could be settled out of court, with Pocketpair agreeing to pay a settlement fee and possibly making changes to the game. These outcomes would depend on the specifics of the court’s ruling and any agreements made between the parties involved. The impact of the lawsuit could extend beyond Japan, potentially affecting international players as well.

[Amatsu]

Originally posted by ice22ice22ice_:

It sound like Nintendo is Japanese government.

They are not the Japanese government, but any number of scenarios can unfold if they win. It's hard to say what will happen, how the courts will rule, ect ect...heck right now we don't even know what patents Nintendo is alleging were violated, though it's likely a few specific ones people have pointed out since news on this broke.

The likely outcome is a pre-court settlement. Pocketpair agrees to pay X amount of money, maybe Nintendo agrees to license the patents, and all is well.

[Plague]

game will be delisted, nintendo doesnt want anything better than their game

[amok]

Both Ninteno and Pocketpair are Japanese companies registered and operating out of Tokyo, so they are both very much under Japanese jurisdiction.

[Kikinaak]

Originally posted by ice22ice22ice_:

It sound like Nintendo is Japanese government.

More teachers pet than teacher, but ya, thats how corruption- I'm sorry, honor and tradition works. They absolutely have government favoritism, which means they have court favoritism, and they also have the peoples popular support. Nintendo is old money and power, they have never lost a court case in japan, this wont be the first. Its basically a cardassian trial, the actual trial is just going through the motions, and the laws and patents are just props in the show.

While a japanese court decision technically only affects things in japan, Pocketpair is based in japan, the devs live there, so what affects the devs, affects the game, affects us all.

[Sen (Naughty Senpai)]

Originally posted by amok:

Both Ninteno and Pocketpair are Japanese companies registered and operating out of Tokyo, so they are both very much under Japanese jurisdiction.

Well, technically Nintendo operates out of Kyoto.

[amok]

Originally posted by Sen (Naughty Senpai):

Originally posted by amok:

Both Ninteno and Pocketpair are Japanese companies registered and operating out of Tokyo, so they are both very much under Japanese jurisdiction.

Well, technically Nintendo operates out of Kyoto.

Yes, sorry. My mistake, a bit quick there :)

[ollj]

frivolous lawsuit will almost certainly settle in pocketpair paying a percentage per sale

[Alt-F4]

Nintendo's strategy, here, as far as I can tell, is about the same as it is with most Japanese developers. Japan is a difficult society for most in Western culture to understand. Just look at the Japanese reception of Pocket Pair's response to Nintendo's lawsuit. The Japanese populace generally sees Pocket Pair as "arrogant" or "disruptive" - it's a concept that doesn't have a completely accurate Western word, because our societies are very different.

I use this example from time to time. Let's say that I, as a foreigner, am visiting Japan and I go up to a restaurant to be seated. The hostess comes up and apologizes, saying that the cook is away, the tables are booked full, or they are otherwise not seating/serving at the moment. I look around and point out that the cook is clearly in the serving window, there is food going out to the only table seated and there are plenty of empty booths. What I just did is extremely rude. There are a few layers to this. First - my role is to be subject to the authority of the hostess - she said they were not serving/seating, that's the end of the discussion. She did not ask for assistance with solving a problem. Second - the "problem" is that it's a Japanese only establishment and foreigners are not welcome - I was being given a reason that allowed us both to part ways without blatantly exposing that little detail. A lack of social conflict is valued over truth. This is, in my eyes, one of the deepest problems with Japanese culture - a willingness to make white elephants in the room, and assail those who point them out, rather than to deal with the truth of the matter.

So, in the eyes of the Japanese, what Pocket Pair should do is say: "We are sorry for the misunderstanding that we infringed on Nintendo and will be entering into a settlement discussion to make both parties happy." This is what Nintendo has done with other cases and it works because most Japanese companies are very fixated on the Japanese market - the foreign market is an afterthought despite the fact it is a much larger market for many of them.

Pocket Pair, by targeting the PC market with Steam in the first place, is aiming outside the Japanese market. It seems unlikely they will enter settlements because Nintendo doesn't have a strong case. Nintendo's litigation record in Japan is largely undeserved because they have been so effective at leveraging social pressures to drive companies into settlement discussions.

So, realistically, Nintendo gets nothing, they lose, and get told to have a good day like it's the end of Willy Wonka. In the U.S., they would likely end up having to pay for Pocket Pair's legal defense, as well - though I'm not sure how Japanese law works in this regard.
The Japanese market will probably consider this to be extremely rude because it made a scene - the truth and the facts don't matter, just the fact that an argument unfolded and made a scene - and the actor seen as having less authority is the one at fault for stepping out of line.
But this is largely irrelevant. Palworld's player base is around 35% Chinese, 20% US, 10% Europe, and only 2% Japan.

Pocket Pair has every reason to call the bluff of Japanese culture, here. The purpose of patents is to protect the right of an innovator to reap the rewards of investing in innovation. It allows someone to describe a very specific process and to claim exclusive rights to market that process or its product for a period of time. Patents must be specific and unique. The problem with all of the patents which have been indicated MAY be what Nintendo intends to sue under is that they are extremely vague - they are dressed up with a lot of language, sure, but if I were to make a fishing game and try to claim that I own a patent on a game wherein a throw a device resembling a baited hook attached to a line... that's not something I can claim to be unique as a patent. I could claim that some computational process I have used to represent this line is subject to a patent - but the concept of a game mechanic reflecting a real or obvious action is dubious.

For example, Nintendo could have reliably patented aspects of their user interface for the original pokemon - the player being on the left, the opponent being on the right, the information readout and how move sets and the like are selected. There are some aspects of this which would be relatively weak, but the idea is that you can patent something like a studio workflow. Aspects of the UI and application handles for plugins are patented for things like Photoshop as are parts of the overall tool workflow. You could, reasonably, translate some of that to a game interface. Bioware patented the dialogue wheel used in Mass Effect, as an example - and I would consider that a legitimate patent - at least ... for a few years, not sure I would agree with it being a patent which could be renewed, but you can patent very specific aspects of a user interface or workflow which are key elements to your product.

I don't think Nintendo has a case. I am pretty sure they believe so, as well. They did not cite copyright claims, which people thought would be their strongest ones (grizbolt and electabuzz are pretty similar - though it could be argued these all descend from cultural tropes within Japan and thus Nintendo doesn't have a strong copyright claim) and they, also, did not cite the specific patents which they claim have been violated - which means they want the advantage of people thinking Nintendo is serious and has a case without the inconvenience of being able to review the cited patents. It's a court of public opinion play, their particular strategy only works well in Japan, and Pocket Pair is not really looking at the Japanese market.

So, in all likelihood, a ruling in a Japanese court would be mostly meaningless for Pocket Pair... unless you were hoping to see Pal World on a Switch 2 (which ... let's be real... that's not happening so long as Pokemon is a viable franchise). The rest of the world is not obligated to follow Japanese court rulings, it would not likely have any significant follow-on consequences for contractors they rely on in Japan, and if they absolutely have to, relocating their business is within the realm of possibility. Even if, for some strange reason, the courts rule for absurd damages and that causes problems for Pocket Pair - Sony is absolutely desperate for a franchise they can monetize at the moment after Concord turned out to not, in fact, be star wars - and between Microsoft and a few other investments circling around - they will have plenty of interest in keeping them open for business. I would think.
If not... then we have much bigger problems coming down the pike than video games.

[Blood-Fang]

Originally posted by Plague:

game will be delisted, nintendo doesnt want anything better than their game

There games are trash tho and it's painfully obvious becasue they are littered with bugs ans besides some minor lines and npcs all games are an exact copy of thr last

[funewchie]

Originally posted by Alt-F4:

But this is largely irrelevant. Palworld's player base is around 35% Chinese, 20% US, 10% Europe, and only 2% Japan.

Although, now that Palworld has launched on PS5 in Japan (which I've heard Playstation is surprisingly popular in Japan)... that percentage may change.

(The rest of what you said was good. I just wanted to highlight that part of it)