Divergence in Palworld’s Controversy with Pokemon
Palworld, the recently released monster collection slash survival game, has achieved enormous success by selling over 7 million copies within its first five days on the Steam platform. Undoubtedly, this achievement has garnered attention, especially considering its significant resemblance to the immensely popular franchise title.
However, not all attention is beneficial, especially when it comes from companies you wouldn’t want to draw their gaze towards you, such as Nintendo or The Pokemon Company as its representative.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the case for Palworld’s developers, Pocketpair studio, as the Pokemon coalition has issued an official statement addressing the recently released Pokemon mod for this game without explicitly mentioning it and stating that the Palworld characters bear striking similarities to existing Pokemon characters.
“We have received numerous inquiries regarding a game from another studio, released in January 2024. We have not granted permission to use Pokemon’s intellectual property or assets in this game. We intend to investigate this matter and take appropriate measures to resolve any intellectual property infringement related to Pokemon. We will continue to nurture every Pokemon and its world, working towards creating a united world through Pokemon in the future.” – The Pokemon Company
Some believe that The Pokemon Company’s refusal to name Palworld’s developer could be regarded as both dismissive and confirming their anger, but it might be because Pocketpair isn’t the primary focus of the Pokemon brand.
Pokemon is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises worldwide, with the benefits it offers to children being one of the reasons why it has gained popularity among multiple generations of players. Therefore, the appearance of cute pocket monsters in a video game where they wield firearms could be deemed as severely damaging to the brand’s image.
When it comes to safeguarding their own brand, no one does it as effectively as Japanese companies. Nintendo, for instance, is well-known for reporting online content violations, even leading services like Nexus Mods to refrain from hosting Pokemon mods for Palworld to avoid potential legal actions.
It may be inferred that, based on The Pokemon Company’s specific wording, Palworld might not be the main focus here, but rather the community creating mods. After all, in a recent interview with Pocketpair CEO, Takuro Mizobe, it was stated that Palworld had undergone a legal evaluation process and was not subject to any legal proceedings for copyright infringement.
Considering both Pocketpair and The Pokemon Company are Japanese companies, and with the absence of specific provisions for “fair use” in Japan, it can be reasonably assumed that even if there were a minor case of Pokemon trademark infringement by the Pocketpair game, Palworld would have been removed before its early access release.
Therefore, it is highly likely that Palworld by Pocketpair will remain safe, at least for now.
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The source of the article is from the blog krama.net