USPTO rejects Nintendo patent tied to “summon-in-battle” mechanic, for now

The US Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a Nintendo patent application covering an in-game mechanic where a character summons a sub-character to help in battle. The ruling is non-final, so this isn’t the end of the process. Nintendo has two months to respond, and it can ask for more time if it appeals.

According to Games Fray’s report, the examiner said the patent was obvious based on combinations of existing patent filings used as prior art. Nintendo originally filed the patent in March 2023. It was approved in September 2025, then sent back for re-examination in November.

The timing matters because Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are still in a patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. That case, filed in Tokyo in September 2024, alleges Palworld infringed multiple patents. Reporting around the case has pointed to patents related to monster capture and release, mounts, and other gameplay systems.

Pocketpair has already changed some of Palworld’s mechanics while the legal fight continues. It removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres in November 2024, and later patched gliding behavior in May. At the time, the studio said it was disputing the patent claims but making some compromises to avoid disrupting development and distribution.

This also isn’t the first patent setback for Nintendo in this broader dispute. In October 2025, Japan’s patent office denied a Nintendo application tied to its capture-and-release mechanic.