Patent

The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently rejected all 26 claims in a Nintendo patent that had been at the center of its legal dispute with Pocketpair, the developer of the popular game Palworld. The patent, No. 12,403,397, covered game mechanics involving summoning characters into battle in different modes. After a rare director-ordered reexamination, a USPTO examiner concluded that the claimed mechanics represented an obvious combination of ideas already presen

On March 13, 2026, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published new supplemental guidance that significantly expands the scope of design patent protection for computer-generated designs. The updated rules eliminate a long-standing requirement that applicants include a physical display screen in their design patent drawings, opening the door for businesses to protect graphical user interfaces, icons, holograms, projections, and virtual and augmented reality