Imagine That IP Law Blog

The Pokémon Company considers legal action against Palworld for intellectual property violations. On January 25, The Pokémon Company issued a statement on its Japanese website where it confirmed it intends to investigate “another company’s game” that was released in January 2024.

For gamers, this is an obvious nod to Palworld which has made headlines since its recent launch as many believe the animated world has strong similarities to Pokémon.  With over 8 million downloads in six days, legal action by The Pokémon Co. and its co-owner Nintendo appears imminent. The value of intellectual property is affected when third parties improperly create unlicensed derivative works or otherwise dilute a brand. The greater the infringing use without action by the IP owner, the greater harm there is to the IP’s underlying value. Therefore, IP owners have to constantly monitor for third-party use to catch’em all (infringers, that is).

If The Pokémon Company and Nintendo seek a preliminary injunction, new downloads of the game would likely be suspended pending the outcome of the case. This could generate an opposite result from The Pokémon Company’s intent as it can spur a flood of downloads before the game is taken off of Steam.