Japan’s Patent Office rejected Nintendo’s latest patent for monster-catching mechanics on touch-screen devices,The application number is 2026-019762.
The patent covered common actions like tapping to move your character, throwing capture items at wild creatures, summoning caught monsters to battle, and tapping on-screen buttons for attacks and items.
Officials said these rules are not new or special, they are just standard monster-catching gameplay already seen in games like Pokémon, with no real invention.
This patent belongs to the same group Nintendo is using in its court case against Palworld developer Pocketpair.
Nintendo changed the claims in February 2026, but the office still rejected it. They can try again, but the strong reasons given make it difficult.
The lawsuit against Palworld continues, and Pocketpair has already made changes to avoid issues.
Palworld fans are waiting for the full 1.0 release, and the developers have given a clear update.
Pocketpair’s John “Bucky” Buckley spoke to the community after a player complained about too many Discord notifications. Bucky said the next notification will not be about 1.0.
“Well, the next notification won’t be about 1.0 either, I’m afraid! You should just assume that Palworld 1.0 isn’t going to be a sudden announcement on Discord in general, tbh… it’s a bit too big of a moment for something like that!”
The game launched in Early Access in January 2024 and has had steady updates since then.
Last year Pocketpair said version 1.0 will arrive in 2026 as their largest update, with new Pals, big improvements, and better endgame play.
PICKMON ES ACUSADO DE ROBAR DISEÑOS A FANS
El nuevo clon de Palworld está en graves problemas. Ahora la comunidad acusa a Pickmon de plagiar descaradamente el arte de creadores independientes de fakemons, además de robar elementos de criaturas oficiales de Nintendo. 🎨