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cailianshe news, september 19 (editor: liu rui)do you remember the open world pc game "phantom beast palu" that was a global hit at the beginning of this year? after the game was launched for several months, the legal department of nintendo, which is jokingly called "the strongest in the eastern hemisphere", finally took action.

on thursday, nintendo and the pokemon company said they had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against pocketpair, the developer of the game, which makes the game.

the lawsuit was filed wednesday in the tokyo district court. nintendo and the pokémon company are seeking an injunction and damages, arguing that the game infringes on several patents.

"phantom beast palu" was officially released in mid-january this year. it became a global hit as soon as it was launched, and gained more than 25 million global players within a month. in the game, players can use guns to capture and train a cute creature called "palu".

many players believe that many of palu's images are highly similar to nintendo's famous pokémon series, so this game was once nicknamed "pokémon with guns" and caused some controversy.

"phantom beast palu" game screen (image source: steam)

it’s worth noting, however, that from a legal perspective, patent protection for software typically only covers elements of the user experience — not the appearance of the character, which means that nintendo may have discovered that the game mechanics of “metamorphosis” infringe on its patent rights.

hideki yasuda, an analyst at toyo securities, said:

"nintendo's lawsuit alleges patent infringement, not copyright infringement, by pocketpair, meaning it has dropped its claim that the characters in the game are similar to those in pokémon... but it also shows that nintendo has more ways to block games it doesn't like. the company holds many patents related to basic game mechanics that are used in many games today."

in fact, nintendo's lawsuit is not surprising. after the explosion of "phantom beast palu" in january this year, the pokemon company immediately stated that it would investigate and take action against any infringement of intellectual property rights.

in july this year, pocketpair just announced the establishment of a joint venture company, palworld entertainment inc., to cooperate with sony music entertainment and aniplex to promote the licensing business of "phantom beast palu" globally.