Palworld removes Pal Sphere summons amidst lawsuit over Nintendo patents
Japanese developer Pocket Pair has released a new update for Palworld that effectively removes the Pal Spheres from the game. The new v0.3.11 update for the game has removed the ability to summon Pals…
I have a work colleague who's really into pokemon and he told me that Nintendo's copyright is absolutely ridiculous. Like, they not only copyrighted pokeballs, but the exact number of times that they shake when used. It's insane. And as everyone could have predicted, they're using their power to crush the competition over insignificant things.
They've also copyrighted anything that follows the player.
It's utterly retarded.
Pretty sure they also patented riding creatures you've collected, you know, like horses.
Watch out world of warcraft.
The worst thing that could have happened to Nintendo was Satoru Iwata's death.
Fuck cancer.
And people will keep fan-boying for Nintendo, even though they proved again and again they are the most anti-consumer gaming company out there.
Electronic Arts has entered the chat
Sony has entered the chat
Ubisoft has entered the chat
Nintendo is actively trying to kill emulation in any way possible. Nintendo has killed countless fangames. Nintendo tried to get rid of any artists who tried to draw Pokemons. Old games are delisted, then sold back at full price. Pokemon games run at like <10FPS.
Not saying the others are good either, but Nintendo is on a league of its own.
I wonder which number is higher, the amount of fangames killed by Nintendo or the amount of franchises and studios bought and buried by EA?
At least EA made some great games before killing the studio / IPs. We still had C&C Red Alert 2 and C&C 3, Burnout 3 + 4 + Paradise, Sim City 4, those are all staples of their genres.
Speaking of EA, woke child grooming sister rapist Jerry Peet defended EA in the wake of the ME3 ending drama because he's a moron.
Also you should have included Microsoft too due to their history and the fact THEY ALSO aggressively cater to the regressive left to the point of selling terrorist paraphernalia.
Fair enough.
Consoomers are sheep, this has been proven time and again.
Vague vs. not vague patents don't seem to matter much anyway since they were still able to go after Palworld even though their version of pokeballs were different.
Throwing the device at your opponent to activate it is a mode of operation and thus not patentable.
They merely need to cobble together an improvised grenade containing an angry badger.
I said it last time I saw an article about this lawsuit posted here, but I'll say it again: The very idea that Nintendo could patent something that has zero real-world utility or design is absolutely disgusting. They haven't invented this technology nor created an improved design for an existing technology -- it's all fictitious -- so how the fuck could a patent be issued or justified? This is copyright territory, at best.
The issue is about patenting an invention. There has to be an abstract concept behind every invention. In this case, they are patenting the concept implemented by physical code.
It would be no different from saying "You claim you invented the windshield wiper. But your windshield wiper design uses a screw to attach the wiper bar to the motor, but Ford is using a rivet. They are identical in all other ways. Therefore, you didn't invent that windshield wiper, Ford did."
That level of material minutia can be used to effectively destroy the concept of patents altogether.
One major distinction between this patent and others that involve abstract or novel concepts is that those patents can tangibly be expressed in the real world, even if they haven't been. It's not an invention or an improvement upon an invention if it literally cannot ever exist or at least cannot ever exist according to our understanding. Anything associated with throwing balls and catching monsters is imagination and not reality. As intellectual property, it should therefore only be subject to copyright law unless specifically trademarked. Patents generally must represent a novel utility (e.g., the concepts you're talking about) or a novel design to facilitate utility with both needing at least the potential for practical application. That doesn't exist where fantasy monsters are concerned.
Also, I'm not talking about details like screws or whatever, I don't think that's analogous.
You're eliminating the concept of patenting software altogether, that's absurd. It's also not a copyright.
What are you talking about? Software has tangible application and real world expression. Fantasy does not. How do you not see the distinction? Digital applications actually exist and are also facilitated by the real-world application of physical laws (ie., the flow of current) to perform actual functions.
Software has utility, make-believe does not. I was pretty clear in that patents cover novel utility.
Software is fantasy because it is completely abstract. You can not draw a line between software that is a game and software that is a spreadsheet. Neither exist in the real world and both are abstract concepts. Both are digital applications and are governed by real world laws.
Not to mention, that's not the point of the patent, it's not trying to patent something within a fictional universe. It's patenting a function within code.
How is software "completely abstract" when it constantly affects your everyday life? Even then, that's not what I said, I said software has real world expression and fantasy doesn't. Software is facilitating this conversation. It results in objective and demonstrable changes to almost every single person's life on this planet on an ongoing basis. Fantasy monsters don't do that, they're imaginary.
If you're equating the two somehow, are you saying software is imaginary? Are you saying the logic that underpins code -- the natural mathematical and physical laws -- are imaginary? Bullshit, nothing in the universe exists without those laws. They're abstract but they're also real. You can test for them and you can channel them for tangible benefit. Pokemon are not real. Technology that could only exist if Pokemon exist is not real.
Both software and Pokemon are abstract, but software is real and Pokemon are imaginary. Therefore, all technology predicated on Pokemon existing must also be imaginary. Any patents predicated on that imaginary tech are retarded and unjustifiable. How is this such a sticking point?
What's the point of even distinguishing patent and copyright otherwise? Why don't Paramount/CBS (Star Trek) own all the cell phone patents? Why doesn't Disney/Lucasfilm (Star Wars) own all the laser patents? Making something up that can't exist isn't worthy of a patent, you have to be able to implement it, and guess what, you can implement code. It has UTILITY. It's REAL. Pokeballs DON'T HAVE UTILITY because they AREN'T and CANNOT BE REAL.
Everyone's always trying to reinvent the beehive.
Some motherfuckers always trying to ice skate uphill.
Not in the west. But it is copyrightable in japland. Where both faggot nintendont and palworlds devs reside.
if I remember correctly, that's us law. Japanese copyright law apparently allows for more specific copyrights.
This just seems pointless, I bet Nintendo lawyers will try to continue anyway as they already have a history of patenting things AFTER they've already been used by another game.
The basis for the patents issued stems from Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which is the 2022 open world Pokemon game developed in 2021.
That said, 'Pokemon with guns' was done in GTA V by a pokemon go mod in 2016. There's an argument to be made that Nintendo can't hold patents on something someone else did first.
(Of course, the GTA mod isn't japanese, but my point stands.)
Should be a triviality to mod back in, it's basically just rolling back an update.
I feel like people on this board are misunderstanding how copyright law works in Japan.
Japan has some of the most draconian copyright laws on the planet. CDs for example, are still a primary medium for music consumption over there. why? Because recording companies said so and fuck you.
Sony’s entire business model was IP based- patent, proprietary, seek-sue-and-destroy.
Pal world should not at all be surprised by this. Users shouldn’t be surprised by this. NINTENDO is not a technology company, it is an IP company their entire business model is based on licensing, they were never going to give pal world a pass because “consumers want it”
Just make it a hexagon or any other shape.
I don't have paid twitter, but if we want to defend palworld, someone has to @grummz and encourage him to ask people to contact nintendo investors.
Nintendo is publicly traded. If dozens of their biggest shareholders start hearing directly from the public that this makes Nintendo look like a villain, and will result in fans swearing off the brand? That's going to get investors involved in telling Nintendo it might be an unwise move to throw such might behind a bruised ego.
"Contact the investors" "Contact the advertisers"
This is how groups like media matters and SPLC / ADF get things done. We need to wise up. Bitching directly to nintendo isn't going to accomplish anything. Getting the bag-holders riled up will.
Someone with a decent following and twitter blue please @Grummz. Post a link here. I'll like and re-tweet.
Extremely difficult to do when the investors only read and speak Japanese, a language that Google Translate badly butchers on the best of days. One would either need to hire the most dedicated of überweebs, or ideally track down a Japanese person who is fluent in both English and Japanese, in order to properly convey the message they want to send.
Aren't we assuming American's aren't owning the Nintendo stock? and I am sure rich people earning large stakes can afford interpreters.
Our dollar is almost three times their dollar. We can definitely out-buy them at their own stock. We just have to rattle their English speaking sugar daddies.
Yes, because Nintendo isn't listed on the NASDAQ (US stock market), they are listed on the Japan Exchange Group (Japanese stock market). Stemming from that, one could also assume that you need to be not only fluent in the language, but also their laws which can be either stricter or different (or both) compared to dealing with the US stock market.
Furthermore, even if everything was on the up-and-up (read as: greased the right amount of palms), and you did manage to buy enough stock to get in on their investors' meetings, the chances are quite high that you would never get to speak at all because they would rather commit seppuku than let 馬鹿外人 speak on their own turf.
Alright, alternatively, isn't education a standard part of both primary and secondary education in Japan?
I'm not saying all are fluent, but there is probably at least a couple who read twitter and engage with twitter. Who can be @'d, and we have to hope we scare that investor enough to get him to talk to other nintendo investors, and start a buzz amongst themselves.
Is there actual harm in trying? Or are we just lay down and take it bottom bitches?
There's no harm in trying, I'm just trying to get it through to you that you are severely underestimating the gap between US and Japanese culture. There have been instances where East and West have clashed on the internet, and attempts at dialogue fell apart quickly due to significant differences in their respective understandings of how the world works (despite translation).
Case in point, when the Youtuber TotallyNotMark got all of his reviews of One Piece copyright struck in one fell swoop (talking dozens of videos here), all westerners in the comments saw it for the BS that it was, whereas all the Japanese commenters were straight up calling him a thief and a plagiarizer for making reviews without explicit written permission from the publisher (which in the US, where Youtube is HQ'ed, falls under "Fair Use").
He has since gotten back on his feet, but the whole ordeal left a sour taste in my mouth, and it should serve as an example of how much your average Japanese person will simp for faceless corporations (especially a juggernaut like Nintendo)
The only reason Nintendo is doing this to begin with is because Palworld made them look really bad by beating them at their own game. It will be trivial for them to explain this to their shareholders, if they haven't already.
Especially in the interest of preventing future incidents of people trying to do so, as Nintendo's method in the past is to DMCA big names to scare all the little ones into scattering.
Their shareholders will care more about that then looking bad for a brief time, as they always "look bad" when trying to aggressively protect their IPs every other year. But in doing so they continue to be the only real dog on the field and make billions off lackluster products constantly. Its a proven strategy for them.
I don't want to defend their scummy behavior, but that is how their business strategy has worked for a long time now.
Shareholders will care if people tell them they plan to boycott Nintendo over being a bully, Nintendo has no value if it isn't a parent-to-child transgenerational thing. Reduced current and future customers is very scary to investors.
It is, and its equally capable to happen if Nintendo starts having actual competition with its most guaranteed IPs from ex-employees and a legion of journos writing articles denigrating their value by comparison to this silly little game.
I think shareholders will be much more likely to be afraid of that scenario versus "some internet people said we were being mean :( , they might boycott us if we don't start acting right!"
What they are doing is wrong and probably legally wrong too, but you are talking about convincing the most amoral people in a mega corporation to care.
Explain sony backing off on helldivers then?
A different company, a smaller dev team pushing back against Sony internally to protect their IP, and an obvious massive revenue loss from Steam allowing refunds with no time limits.
As in, a completely different situation that has no relevance or comparison.
Arguably, Nintendo is reacting because Sony backed Palworld. There's plenty of other monster catch & trains out there-- but Palworld's got Sony behind them, and is a big enough threat for Nintendo to activate their legal team.
There's some cultural issues with the Palworld dev being ex-Nintendo and going against the company that raised him going on, too. Underneath, Sony supporting Palworld is a threat to The Pokemon Company, a Nintendo cash-cow.
The Palworld lawsuit can be viewed as proxy battle in the continuing corporate struggle between Nintendo and Sony, since Nintendo knocking out Palworld keeps Sony from damaging/diluting the Pokemon brand.
Like you point out, a Nintendo win leaves only their (lackluster) products on the market.
I had forgotten that angle but its likely very true. After all, damn near identical games like Coromon and Nexomon are being sold that are far more Pokemon clones than Palworld could ever come close to being. They just didn't make much noise so Nintendo didn't care to even waste time on indie slop like them.
There is a lot of petty nonsense going on behind these decisions, but at the end of it there is still logical soundness enough for Nintendo to justify themselves to their shareholders.
Its like when they shut down those emulators earlier this year, its a complete dick move from our end but they could just point to Tears of the Kingdoms lackluster reception/sales and have their investors throwing extra lawyers in to help them do it.
Or let a Chinese developer copy Palworld whole cloth with the sphere mechanic and laugh when Nintendo tries to sue them. It sounds like Palworld already cucked so what's to defend? Fuck Nintendo, fuck pocket pair.
Give them a PalPistol™. When you shoot the critter it gets sucked into the gun. Firing it spits out the imaginary critter.
Problem solved.
If Japanese law allowed Nintendo to make Pokemon fictional IP tech patentable then it's on Japan's legal system that they can go after Jap-an-ese developers.
Cucking to Nintendo like that will only invite more grifting.
They are the sole reason the Dpad sucks on other consoles. They patented the fucking +. This here does not surprise me.
Tell Palworld Fans to get over it.
First, if this means they can survive to continue to challenge Pokemon, good.
Second, they are partnering with Terraria. I have no idea how that's going to work, but by god, if they can get others in the indie sphere to help develop other skills for the next features of their game, and deepening the crafting mechanic, then they can keep surviving and possibly thriving.
This is a minor set-back. There's still a war to be won, and this could have gone way worse.
We can win other ways than in court. If Nintendo investors breath down their neck, they'll stop. We don't have to fold or run from nintendo.
The crossover is just going to be outfits and items. Maybe a recognizable monster or npc. That is how japanese studios do collabs.
I'll grant that, but I don't know how much sway we all would have over investors.