US Patent Office Revoke Nintendo/Pokemon's Monster Summoning Patent, But...

TL;DR

The US Patent Office issued a non-final revocation of Nintendo's auto-battle summoning patent, but Nintendo can still fight back within a two-month window.

Key Points

• 1.Nintendo's summoning patent covers the auto-battle mechanic from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Filed in March 2023 and granted September 2025, US patent #12,43,397 specifically covers summoning a character and letting it automatically fight others, raising fears of abuse against games like Diablo and Starcraft.
• 2.The patent drew criticism because Nintendo used it aggressively against Palworld. Nintendo claimed Palworld's monster-summoning mechanics infringed its patent, which critics called an overreach since game mechanic patents are widely considered ethically questionable — akin to patenting brush strokes in painting.
• 3.The USPTO director personally ordered a rare re-examination in November 2025. Director John A. Squires initiated the review citing prior art, including a 2022 Konami patent and a 2019 Nintendo patent that covered similar mechanics, suggesting Nintendo's invention lacked novelty.
• 4.The patent was non-finally revoked in April 2026 partly because Nintendo missed its response deadline. After failing to respond within the two-month window, the examiner began re-examination and issued a non-final office action rejecting all 26 patent claims based on prior art from patents named Tora, Yab, Shimamoto, and Moura.
• 5.The USPTO's rejection hinges on the legal concept of 'obviousness.' Regulators argue that combining prior art references from Nintendo (2019, 2020), Konami (2002), and Bandai Namco (2019) produces something equivalent to Nintendo's patent, meaning it lacks the required inventive step to be patentable.
• 6.Nintendo still has a path to salvage the patent and its litigation power. With a new two-month response window, Nintendo can argue non-obviousness — that combining those prior art references isn't intuitive — and even saving just one of the 26 claims could preserve some legal leverage for future lawsuits.