Pocketpair goes on to say that Palworld has been claimed to infringe on three patents held by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company and that part of the damage is required as compensation.
The first patent is one that most had guessed to be part of the case, as 7545191 refers to the process of capturing and befriending Pokemon, which Palworld apes with its Pal Spheres. The other two patents that are included in the lawsuit, 7493117 and 7528390 haven’t been found and detailed just yet, but they’re likely also mechanics in Pokemon games that are replicated in Palworld.
The unfortunate part is that Nintendo is likely going to win it. It’s a Japanese company, in Japanese court, and the courts are hilariously biased in favor of Japanese companies. Nintendo has literally never lost a lawsuit in Japan against a foreign defendant, because the Japanese courts are set up to trust Japanese claimants more than foreigners by default.
Japan has a lot of cute media and a reputation for being polite, but the harsh reality is that the country is one of the most racist in the world. They get away with it because the culture is built upon being polite. But under that polite exterior, there is a lot of overt racism. Japan is one of the most homogenous populations in the world, with 99.8% of the population being native Japanese. That remaining 0.2% includes all of the tourists, visa holders, immigrants, half-Japanese children, etc… Japan has a saying, which roughly translates to “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” In a society that is focused on blending in, immigrants stick out.
Imagine how bad the White Power rhetoric would be if America were 99.8% white, and that other 0.2% (not 2%. Two tenths of 1%) of non-white people included tourists, immigrants, and naturalized citizens. In a packed 20,000 person stadium, that would only be 40 non-white people in the crowd.
To be fair, they’re both Japanese companies, but yeah, Japan’s patent/trademark/copyright laws, or at least the way they’re enforced, make America’s look like China’s. It’s a big part of how Nintendo can be the copyright bullies they are: they’ll do this, file suit in Japan, and steamroll anyone who dares oppose them in court. Because both companies in this case are Japanese, though, all the Japan vs foreigner stuff doesn’t really apply here.
And as a foreigner who lived in Japan in the past, I will say there’s some truth to the above, but it’s a bit exaggerated. Due to that homogeneity, 90+ percent of any racism anyone might experience there is due to stereotypes, not hostility or hatred. It’s still wrong, but more due to ignorance. That is, unless you’re Chinese or Korean. Japan, China and Korea HATE each other (each one hates the other two) for many historical reasons, and while the hostility isn’t as overt nowadays, it still simmers just under the surface. The US is basically forcing Japan and South Korea to play nice and be “allies” so that China and North Korea don’t run them both over. Otherwise, they would all be at each other’s throats.
I hadn’t realized the court was within Japan. Does Palworld conduct business inside the country? I’d think if it was never released there, Japan would have no basis to pull them into a foreign case.
Pocketpair (Palworld dev) is also a Japanese company.
So there are two Japanese companies, what racial bias is there then?
There wouldn’t be. Person from the top of the chain presumably hasn’t actually read up on things here and just jumped to conclusions.
Japanese court also tend to privilege big companies…
You Americans are so funny. It’s your country that has the media going on about identity politics and racism 24/7. If America were 99.8% white nobody would bat an eye about racism because there wouldn’t be a significant demografic group impacted by it.
White power is not really a thing when you can’t blame a large part of society for your shortcomings. Without the race issue there are still a select few in positions of power and many slaving avay every day just to get by.
I the case of Japan it is more difficult to fit in as any foreigner. There is a strong societal norm centered around culture and mannerisms and everyone not adhering to the etiquette stands out and is considered rude. This culture takes center stage during the upbringing of Japanese children so it is engrained in them by the time they become adults.
There are exaples of (even black) people successfully adopting a Japanese way of life but it is difficult, as you said they are hammered down until they fit in.
Anyway, racist? Yes, difinitely. White (yellow?) power rhetoric - not so much. That was probably more the case before WWII.
Ðı aṙ’n letıŋ ð imprȯpṙ Djæpinız ſluıd t bı nuıſ, it’z bikȯz Đı þıŋk a forinṙz aṙ ſ ſtupid ðæt “beıſik etikit” z’n wṙþ ð efṙt t djril intu U̇.
spoiler
They aren’t letting the improper Japanese slide to be nice, it’s because they think all foreigners are so stupid that “basic etiquette” isn’t worth the effort to drill into us.