Can anyone interpret this article? Its very technical and even the summary was hard to parse.
I’ll do my best :)
Nintendo is suing palworld for patent infringement, meaning it thinks palworld is infringing (using without permission) one of Nintendo’s patents.
These parents went through the application process and the Japanese patent office decided they were valid (basically that they were new and inventive).
Now, though, the validity of 2 of the 3 Nintendo parents are having their validity questioned.
A pending Nintendo application (not yet a patent) is, at the moment, considered to not be patentable because it lacks the new and inventive part that is required of a patent. This was discovered because a third party told the patent office about something that existed in some sort of publication before the Nintendo application was started (basically). This earlier-existing thing is called prior art. Prior art is sort of like a quasi-patent in the sense that new applications’ new and inventive determination is based on basically all previously existing stuff. Just because Nintendo didn’t disclose it and just because the patent office itself didn’t discover this prior art doesn’t mean it does not still operate to block the new application’s new and inventive idea.
Now Nintendo has to demonstrate to the patent office that its new application is actually different from the prior art or that the prior art should, for some reason, not actually qualify as prior art. If it is successful, it can become an actual patent (assuming all the other stuff it needs is correct).
This all matters because this new application stems from existing Nintendo patents. This means basically that Nintendo patented something extensive that can be broken into smaller parts that are also patentable. This is confusing but it’s sort of like if you designed a 3-in-1 hot coffee, espresso, cold brew machine (on paper). It was so unique that if you separated the espresso part of it it was still new and inventive over everything else in existence, which makes it patentable. As well, if you separated the cold brew part, it was also new and inventive (therefore patentable).
This new application is like the cold brew part of the example above. The espresso part was already found to be new and inventive (now a patent) but the discovery of this third-party prior art is not only blocking the new and inventiveness of the cold brew part (new application), but also of the entire 3-in-1 machine (already a patent). This could happen, for example, if someone in India invented the 3-in-1 machine but the Japanese patent office didn’t know about it and Nintendo didn’t know about it when Nintendo first tried to patent its 3-in-1 machine with the Japanese office. Now, the India machine has been brought to japan’s attention during this new application and it could lead to the office reconsidering the validity of Nintendo’s 3-in-1 machine altogether.
Hope this helps! I tried to make it easy enough to follow with a more imaginable example but the whole thing is still pretty abstract and confusing.
I’ll do my best :)
Thanks lol I have some parent law background and was happy for a chance to use it here for this
As I understand Pokemon GO and other games had monster capture mechanic before patent submission and patent is invalid in non-final verdict.
Nintendo got sued by Universal Studios for creating Donkey Kong which Universal felt was too close to King Kong. Nintendo won the case and since then they’ve been on a bloody dont-fuck-with-the-plumber Crusade just like Disney’s dont-fuck-with-the-mouse. Given the current state of Pokemon games, I wish Nintendo had lost the Pokemon trademark due to brand dilution long ago.
hah get fucked nintendo
Excellent news. 12 year old me would never believe I would be smiling seeing Nintendo finally take an L.
Same here but 12 year old me also wanted to be a ninja when he grew up.
Learn martial arts, wear a mask, and throw pepper bombs at cops
There is still time
My knees disagree.
Never forget how Nintendo made its money.
Making playing cards? 🤨
For whom?
Well, they’re Japanese and started in Japan, so… The Dutch? 🤷♂️
The type of playing cards Nintendo used to produce have a high association with the gambling underground. So I presume they mean to insinuate Nintendo is associated with the Yakuza
I can not remember if this thing I read a long time ago that pretty much confirmed that Nintendo, at one point, had Yakuza members on its board was a real news article or from a fictional book (this is somewhat of a plot point in Lucky Wander Boy)… 🤔
It’s one of those things that’s been rumored about since I was a kid, tho.
I saw something similar. I wouldn’t be surprised if there still is some Yakuza connection remaining. There’s bound to be some rich, influential yakuza members that were like “Nintendo? Neat, i’mma join this” and got a position somewhere. If not by money, by influence.
Gamblers.
Which is pretty weird for a law firm with a gaming side business.
The richest gamblers learned that you didn’t need to beat the house if you are the house. 🤌🏼
A pretty specific subset of gamblers.
Sad how villainous Nintendo are. Their games were everything to me as a child.
Just put yer eyepatch and tricorn hat on, matey. Their games still be worth plunderin’!
Wouldn’t you want to skip Nintendo games so that they stop being culturally relevant? I often hear that piracy is good for media creators in the long run.
There are way, way too many people who have never heard of Nintendo’s problems and/or don’t care for it to make any difference. They’re culturally relevant, and there’s nothing you or I can do about it.
This kind of thinking certaintly won’t contribute to that changing.
Got a better idea, or are you content doing fuck-all about it, too? 🤓
I’ve been vocally boycotting Nintendo for a few years.
Abstaining from entertainment to no actual end drains valuable mental energy that could be going into constructive solutions.
That might be true if there weren’t literally a million other games to play instead.
How does not playing a game drain more valuable mental energy than downloading, installing, and playing it?
If you really want to do something, and you’re watching everyone else enjoy it on social media, that takes willpower. You only have so much willpower, so why not use it on something that actually helps someone, like not eating meat or child shave chocolate or whatever?
i mean it’s not your refusal to play pokémon schmirtle & thromble that will plunge nintendo to obscurity
at that point, if the game interests you, may as well pirate it
Sounds like an argument for pirating if you feel like it, regardless of everything else. Can’t say I agree with this one even if there are good reasons to pirate in plenty of cases.
It’s because of upstanding pirates like yourself that the rest of us can plunder at whim. Thank you for your
serviceratio. 🙇🏼♂️🏴☠️
I’m waiting for Pokémon SilverSchmirtle, myself.
Nah, keeping their old catalog relevant just twists the knife in them more. Like pouring a whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the wound.
Is it petty? Sure. But Nintendo cannot out-petty me.
Um. Hydrogen peroxide would clean the wound and, presumably with said volume, also irrigate it pretty effectively, so…
Aye, if th’ games were released on PC, matey.
As long as the treasure be land-locked to their hardware jails, they’ve yet to see a cent out of me, or me crew!
Lmao, Pokemon GO was used as prior art. Get fucked Nintendo.
Fuck yeah
Wow I’m pleasantly surprised. Doesn’t happen much lately
Sweet. Fuck Nintendo.
