2w ago

Uh Oh: Nintendo Just Landed A ‘Summoning’ And ‘Battling’ Patent

www.forbes.com

If only necromancy were real. They could summon and battle Gygax in court.

I don't know what went wrong that such a patent was granted. I absolutely loathe IP people.

37 comments

Shouldn't it be trivially easy to demonstrate "prior art" in this case, making the patent invalid? I guess that requires someone to get into a legal battle with Nintendo... but it's not like this is some niche mechanic. Surely there are other entertainment megacorps who are currently in violation of this "patent" and do have the resources to fight it in court.
- Patent laws in Japan don't work the same way as they do in most of the world. And they can only enforce their patent on companies operating in Japan.
  The whole Palworld situation was based on patents that Nintendo only applied for after Palworld was already released.
  
  This patent was granted in the US.
- In the US, yes. In Japan, it would appear such a concept does not exist.
  
  They were granted the patent in the US in this case.
- My first instinct is Activision. They got Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, Skylanders, and to a lesser extent Sekiro
  
  Yeah, Activision was my first thought as well.
- They'll ask Nintendo for use and they'll pay for it
Fuck Nintendo, and fuck US copyright
- copyright
  This isn't a copyright, but rather a patent.
  
  Same shit, different spicing.
I find it doubtful they'll successfully enforce this in court. But you never know.
The fact that this patent was issued is further proof our "intellectual property" laws and such are fucking broken to all hell, in any case.
Shouldn't take them long to patent the concept of "game".
- They're going for the jugular. They gonna patent electricity
I don’t know what went wrong that such a patent was granted. I absolutely loathe IP people.
Someone got paid, guaranteed.
- This patent could have a chilling effect, but there's no way it would stand up in court. They can still use it as a bargaining chip. Court cases are expensive. And if you don't have a legal department, they are also a personal drain. But that's small fry. Financially, I don't believe it makes sense for them to resort to criminality to get such a patent. Maybe they hope it will influence their court case in Japan against Palworld?
  
  Sort of the point though. If they take a small creator to court, they can just bankrupt them through expensive legal proceedings, and because they do have the patents the judge is unlikely to throw the case out
What are we patenting this week Nintendo.
Characters throwing ball shaped objects.
Characters named after trees.
Monsters who only say their own names.
Opposite colours, gems, letters or whatever other bullshit we use to name the latest rehashed ~~cashgrab~~ uhh i mean, game...
Cute animals.
This list will go on.
This battle system was in use by final fantasy before pokémon though, wasn't it? Also summoning was used in at least the 4 ff games that I have actually played.
- Megaten games are older than that. You even "capture" the demons you're battling
I think palworld needs to start filling for ridiculous patents, go on the offensive.
Someone's about to get chocobo-kicked:
- FF3 on the NES had summoning too
  
  Onion Knights, assemble!
Final Fantasy VIII, why are you crying?
Macintosh Chess breaks this patent.
God there's so many companies that operate in Japan that will have problems with the summoning one alone. Square soft leaps to mind
- This is a US patent; not directly relevant to Japanese operations.
  
  Pretty sure Square soft operates in the United States as well.
This feels like it would hit games like: Overlord

37 comments