A new wrinkle has emerged concerning Nintendo’s patents that could impact the company’s latest attempts to claim ownership over game mechanics involving the summoning of another character during battles.
John Squires, the relatively new director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) appointed during the Trump administration, has ordered a reexamination of Nintendo’s recent patent. This patent details the concept of “summoning a subcharacter and letting it fight in one of two battle modes.” The reexamination was prompted by earlier patents that might invalidate Nintendo’s more recent claims.
According to a report by GamesFray, the reexamination order highlights concerns that previous patents could undermine Nintendo’s patentability. Particularly, a 2002 patent codenamed “Yabe,” granted to Konami, references a character fighting alongside the player in both automatic and manual modes. Additionally, a 2020 patent granted to Nintendo itself, known as the “Taura” patent, also describes sub-characters battling alongside the player.
Both the Yabe and Taura patents incorporate the concept of sub-characters engaging in battles together with the main character, either automatically or manually. Director Squires pointed out that “each of Yabe and Taura teaches a player being allowed to perform a battle in a manual mode and in a simpler, automatic mode. A reasonable examiner would consider each of Yabe and Taura to be important in deciding whether the claims are patentable.”
Concluding his remarks, Squires stated that “each raises a substantial new question of patentability,” signaling that Nintendo’s recent patent claims face significant challenges during this reexamination process. The outcome may influence how game mechanics related to character summoning are patented moving forward.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146667/nintendo-summon-subcharacter-patent-examination-john-squires