Words that are underlined link to explanations in our IP Lingo dictionary unless the underlined passages clearly refer to other articles.
We will now show you the original information we found on the JPO’s website.
First, here’s a screenshot of the patent family tree as displayed on the JPO’s website:
You can see that application 2024-031879 (the number 2024-059945 below is the publication number)
As you’ve probably figured out, the first four digits of those application and publication numbers indicate a year. When patent applications are processed on the regular track (as opposed to a company opting for the fast track), it takes 18 months from filing to publication. As the numbers indicate, the first two members of this patent family were on the regular track, so the application and publication numbers have different years, but after Palworld’s launch, they fast-tracked everything, which is why those 2024 applications were still published and some even granted that same year. It went smoothly except for the ‘879 application, and now someone (possibly Pocketpair) is mounting resistance.
Here’s a screenshot of the examination record. It shows an April 9, 2025 “notification of submission of publications” and an October 22, 2025 notice of refusal:
And, finally, here’s the JPO’s machine translation of the notice of rejection:
Notice of Reasons for Refusal (PatentsApplication2024-031879)
* NOTICES *
JPO and INPIT are not responsible for any damages caused by the use of this translation.1.This document has been translated by computer. So the translation may not reflect the original precisely.2.**** shows the word which can not be translated.
Notice of Reasons for Refusal
Patent Application Number: Japanese Patent Application No. 2024 to 031879
Proposed Date: October 17, 2025
JPO Examiner: Kazumasa Nakamura 4401 2D00
Representative: Ryo Teramoto (and one other person)
Applicable provisions: Article 29, Paragraph 2 (inventive step)
This application should be refused for the reason mentioned below. If the applicant has any opinion(s) against the reason, a written opinion should be submitted within 60 days from the date on which this notification was dispatched.
Reason 1. (Inventive step) The claimed invention(s) listed below of this patent application shall not be granted a patent under the provision of Patent Act Article 29 (2) for the reason that the claimed invention(s) could have easily been made by persons who have common knowledge in the technical field to which the claimed invention(s) pertains, on the basis of the invention(s) described in the distributed publication listed below or made available to the public through electricitytelecommunication lines in Japan or other foreign countries prior to the filingof the patent application . (see, in particular, video time [02:23] – [05:32]) describes an invention relating to a game program in which in a game called “ARK”, the relative positional relation between the aiming of the blue cross displayed in the center of the screen and the enemy character is adjusted by moving the angle of view, a pod is directed to the aiming direction and is thrown by a human-like player character, a dwarf-like battle character appears from the pod, and a battle between the enemy character and the battle character is started.
Cited Document 2 describes that an enemy character can be attacked using various weapons in a game called “ARK”, and when the descriptions of “a tool that can be used to cause coma” and “how to use a bow” are combined, it is deemed that Cited Document 2 describes that a parameter called a coma value is increased by hitting an enemy character with a paralytic arrow, and when the coma value satisfies a predetermined condition, the enemy character becomes comatose. Then, since the invention described in Cited Document 1 also relates to a game called “ARK”, by applying the above-mentioned matters described in Cited Document 2, a paralytic arrow that causes an enemy character to be in a coma is shot to raise a parameter called a coma value (“when an event item that progresses an in-game event is shot to a player character in the aiming direction and the event item hits a field character arranged on a field in a virtual space, a state parameter of the field character is changed”), a pod is thrown to the player character in the aiming direction, a dwarf-like battle character appears from the pod, and a battle between the enemy character and the battle character is started (“when a battle character that performs a battle is shot to the player character in the aiming direction and the battle character is shot to a place where the field character is arranged, A battle between the field character and the battle character on the field is started “), and in such a game program, when the enemy character is put into a coma by the paralysis arrow (” when the state parameter of the field character has reached a predetermined value due to the hit of the event item “) It is clear that it is possible to perform an operation of causing the player character to throw the pod in the aiming direction to start a battle.
(Regarding Claims 2, 6, 10, and 14) The game “ARK” can attack an enemy character by using various weapons (“a plurality of theevent items”). “ARK” can cause the enemy character to be in a coma (“restrict the movement of the field character in the virtual space”) by using the paralysis arrow. – Claims 4, 8, 12, and 16 – Cited Document, etc. 1-3 – Remarks
In the technical field of games that battle with enemy characters, it is well known that a predetermined gauge is reduced by winning a battle with a boss, and an in-game event can be cleared by cutting off the gauge (see, for example, “a method for reducing a transport gauge” in Cited Document 3), and therefore, in the invention described in Cited Document 1, a person skilled in the art could have appropriately conceived of adopting the above-mentioned well-known technique to configure such that the predetermined gauge is reduced by defeating the enemy character, and the in-game event can be cleared by cutting off the gauge, and in this case, it is merely a design matter that could have been appropriately selected by a person skilled in the art as necessary to configure such that the reduction amount of the gauge is relatively increased by using a predetermined item during the battle with the enemy character.
Record of the result of prior art search-Areas examined:IPCA63F9/24, 13/00 – 13 / 98-Prior Art Document: [Craft Pia] How to Catch Monsters / How to Live a MonsterHow to use, Craftpier Capture Wiki [Craftopia] [online], 09/21/2020, [retrieved on 10/17/2025],
Office of User Experience Kazumasa Nakamura
TEL. 03-3581-1101, Extension 3239 * ○○○○@ jpo. go. jp (Replace with “○○○○” and enter “PA2D”).
Chief Examiner / Deputy, Examiner, Assistant Examiner Yohei Matsuya, Kazumasa Nakamura, 3410 4401
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