USPTO Rejects All Claims in Nintendo's Game Patent

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected all claims in a patent granted to Nintendo last year, potentially weakening the company's position in its ongoing lawsuit against the developer of the video game Palworld. The decision, issued in a nonfinal ruling, revokes the patent covering mechanics for summoning subcharacters to battle on a player's behalf, a feature central to games like Pokemon.

Nintendo received U.S. Patent No. 12,403,397 in September 2024, which described a player summoning a subcharacter to fight either automatically or under manual control. The patent drew immediate scrutiny for its broad scope, as similar mechanics appear in numerous video games beyond Nintendo's titles. In November 2024, USPTO Director John A. Squires ordered a reexamination of the patent, the first such director-initiated review since 2012 and without involvement from another party. Squires cited potential invalidity based on prior patents, including those held by Nintendo itself.

The USPTO's recent action fully rejects the patent's 26 claims, determining them invalid due to combinations of earlier inventions. Officials explained that pairing Nintendo's 2020 Taura patent...