copyright issues

[Shiro]

Hey, I wanted to share my thoughts on the artworks for these cards. Some of them really look a lot like Pokémon. The eyes, poses, and even some of the body shapes seem to be pretty similar. I’m worried about the potential risk of being a solo developer and going up against a huge company like Nintendo. You’ve seen what happened with Palworld.

Sorry for my English, but I am from Japan and work as a lawyer.

[Badman Reviews]

Palworld wasn't sued for having monsters that look the same, its a fight nintendo wouldn't win. Palworld was sued for copyright infringement on game mechanics, we don't know what mechanics but it's assumed riding monsters, and using pokeballs.

[Operation40]

palworld is NOT being sued due to similarity of the characters, and it's been thoroughly dis-proven already anyway - they did not use the same models.

nintendo is doing something much more evil - they are suing on *gameplay mechanics* - how the pals are captured and interacted with

[☆fudd35]

reminds me of when the Fine Bros tried to copyright the word "react"

[dredre99877]

Originally posted by Shiro:

Hey, I wanted to share my thoughts on the artworks for these cards. Some of them really look a lot like Pokémon. The eyes, poses, and even some of the body shapes seem to be pretty similar. I’m worried about the potential risk of being a solo developer and going up against a huge company like Nintendo. You’ve seen what happened with Palworld.

Sorry for my English, but I am from Japan and work as a lawyer.

What in the Pal World lawsuit has anything to do with likeness? Nothing.

[Phorexigon]

I swear im missing something as none of the monsters on the cards look even close to Pokemon.

[dredre99877]

Originally posted by Operation40:

palworld is NOT being sued due to similarity of the characters, and it's been thoroughly dis-proven already anyway - they did not use the same models.

nintendo is doing something much more evil - they are suing on *gameplay mechanics* - how the pals are captured and interacted with

Not evil, Japan patent law allowed them to patent game mechanics.

[Canadaboy250]

Absolutely the cards look like pokemon. They are supposed to. Hell did you see the cards names? They are Tetre "mon" very clearly a callback to poke "mon".

So yes the cards in this game are based on pokemon. No that dosen't mean there is a copyright issue. First, ill call out the circumstantial proof. Dozens of smaller and even some larger games include very clear reference companies. (one great example in this case is the Game Dev Tycoon, it includes the likes of Vony (Sony), the mBox and micronoft (Xbox, Microsoft), Ninvento, with the TES, Gameling, Super TES, Wuu (Nintendo and a variety of its consoles) and many many many more. It along with dozens of other games that do similar things have never had a copyright issue with any of these companies, surely its not just out of the goodness of corporations hearts.

The reason is that while these things are clearly inspired and referential to the originals they are in fact parodies. Just think, a TCG shop simulator without relatable TCGs wouldnt work very well, and for a majority of the population pokemon is the staple TCG they have heard of so its ideal to focus your game around an icon. Parody is a protected form of fair use in american law (im not 100% on japanese law BUT for nintendo to prevent this game from being sold in america, the largest market, they would need to win an american legal case so its a mute point) and the parody would infact not work if tetramon did not share similarities with pokemon to make the parody clear (if the card game did not involve animal-esqe creatures with elemental classifications it would be hard to recognise the pokemon parody, also even another angle, it is hard to claim you own the concept of animals tied to elements considering the elements in question date back to the ancient age but I mean nintendo claims to own the concept of throwing balls so that might be something they would do) so no, there would be extremely shaky ground for nintendo to sue at BEST and nintendo usually never sues without a slam dunk of a case.



TLDR: Yes its intentionally designed to look like pokemon because it is a parody of pokemon since its a simulator/parody of the real life TCG market of which pokemon is the staple of. It isnt grounds for copyright infringement since it needs to look LIKE pokemon to make the parody, which is fair use, work.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, everything I have said is based on my understanding of the relevant laws from what I have read and learned from others more educated on the subject than I, nothing in here is fact, but I do beleive it all comes from credible sources so I stand by my conclusion as reasonable.

Edit: Grammar and taking out the quote since it was a quote of the original post and thats kinda silly.

[Ula]

Frankly, most cards look more like Digimons than pokemons.

[UrbanNoodles]

There are no issues whatsoever with the design of the cards. Palworld is not even being sued for the similarities between the monsters. They are being sued for the catch mechanic. This game will not see a lawsuit from any company.

[dredre99877]

Originally posted by Shiro:

Hey, I wanted to share my thoughts on the artworks for these cards. Some of them really look a lot like Pokémon. The eyes, poses, and even some of the body shapes seem to be pretty similar. I’m worried about the potential risk of being a solo developer and going up against a huge company like Nintendo. You’ve seen what happened with Palworld.

Sorry for my English, but I am from Japan and work as a lawyer.

So here let's try this in another way since this keeps coming up. Name one copyright or patent law that is being violated.

[malogoss]

Stop worrying, stay ignorant, be happy.

[Scramble]

Originally posted by Phorexigon:

I swear im missing something as none of the monsters on the cards look even close to Pokemon.

I mean, let's be real, Clauncher and the green lobster lookin' thing look the exact same.

[Modda]

Refer to dragon quest on how pokemon ripped them off :P

[oldschooldiablo]

AAAAAH ♥♥♥♥ here we go again

As a lawyer in Japan or do u say.

U should have a very good understanding as to why there is no legal case to be had in regards to copyright with this game or palworld.

Regarding the creatures in these games

[oldschooldiablo]

Originally posted by Badman Reviews:

Palworld wasn't sued for having monsters that look the same, its a fight nintendo wouldn't win. Palworld was sued for copyright infringement on game mechanics, we don't know what mechanics but it's assumed riding monsters, and using pokeballs.

Palworld was not sued for copyright of game mechanics

U mean patent u cant copyright game mechanics

Patent and copyright are two different things