No: Nintendo has not lost its Palworld lawsuit. The Japan Patent Office rejected a separate, touchscreen-focused patent application in July 2026; Nintendo and The Pokémon Company requested an appeal trial in September. That refusal did not invalidate the three granted patents Pocketpair identified in the Tokyo case, and it did not decide whether Palworld infringes them.
What patent did Japan reject?
The July 2026 refusal concerned Japanese application 2026-019762, a divisional application focused on touchscreen gameplay. The European Commission’s IP Helpdesk says it covered a game in which players move a character, capture creatures and issue combat commands.
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In rejecting it, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) relied in part on a 2013 Pokémon Generations gameplay video, alongside material about touchscreen controls and mobile-game adaptations. The JPO found the application lacked an inventive step and rejected the applicants’ objections, including their argument that alleged copyright infringement by the fan game should prevent its video from being considered as prior art. The refusal concerns whether this application met patentability requirements; it is not a ruling on Palworld’s liability.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company requested an appeal trial on September 3, 2026, according to GameBusiness.jp’s account of the JPO status record. The appeal is a separate patent-office proceeding, and its outcome is unresolved in the available reporting.
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Did Nintendo lose the Palworld lawsuit?
No. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed their patent-infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair in Tokyo District Court on September 18, 2024, and announced it the following day. Nintendo said Palworld infringed multiple patent rights and that the companies sought an injunction and compensation for damages.
Pocketpair identified three patents it said were asserted in the case: Japanese patent numbers 7545191, 7493117 and 7528390. In its account, the requested remedies included an injunction against Palworld and ¥5 million plus late-payment damages for each plaintiff. Pocketpair listed registration dates of August 27, May 22 and July 26, 2024, respectively.
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Those are granted patents identified by Pocketpair in the court case. They are distinct from application 2026-019762, which the JPO rejected. The European Commission’s IP Helpdesk explicitly states that the July refusal neither invalidated the patents before the Tokyo court nor determined whether Palworld infringed them.
How are the patent-office matter and court case different?
| Question | JPO application and appeal | Tokyo District Court lawsuit |
|---|---|---|
| What is being decided? | Whether the separate divisional application 2026-019762 qualifies for a patent; the applicants have requested an appeal trial. | Whether Palworld infringes the patents asserted by the plaintiffs and, if so, what remedies are appropriate. |
| What is the relevant patent status? | The JPO refused the application in July 2026 for lack of inventive step. The appeal outcome is unresolved. | Pocketpair identified three granted patents: 7545191, 7493117 and 7528390. |
| What does the July refusal establish? | The application was refused at that stage of examination. | It does not establish whether Palworld infringes the asserted patents or decide the requested injunction and damages. |
A refusal based on inventive step is not the same decision as a court’s finding of infringement. The proceedings concern different questions, and the JPO’s refusal does not by itself dispose of the Tokyo case.
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What happens next in the Palworld case?
GamesRadar reported that a Tokyo District Court evidence presentation was scheduled for October 1, 2026, and that a preliminary court view was expected on November 9. The sources cited here do not verify what happened at the October 1 event, so no result should be inferred from the reported schedule. The September patent appeal and the court’s infringement case also remain separate proceedings.
Was there an earlier patent refusal?
Yes. In October 2025, reporting described a JPO refusal of related application 2024-031879, also on lack-of-inventive-step grounds and with prior art that included game materials. That was another related application—not a court judgment and not an invalidation of the three granted patents Pocketpair identified as asserted.
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