Nintendo has secured a new patent that protects a common gameplay mechanic wherein an in-game character to summon another sub-character to support it in battle.
As noted by Games Fray, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted Nintendo patent number 12,403,397 on September 2, 2025. Submitted in March 2023, the patent application was approved uncontested despite the mechanic already existing in prior games, both within and outside of Nintendo’s own portfolio.
This means games that use features like those detailed below could now be in breach of Nintendo’s copyright.
- There must be a PC, console, or other computing device, and the game is stored on a drive or similar storage medium.
- You can move a character in a virtual space.
- You must be able to summon a character. They call it a “sub character” by which they mean it’s not the player character, but, for example, a little monster such as a Pokémon that the player character has at their disposal.
- Then the logic branches out, with items 4 and 5 being mutually exclusive scenarios, before reuniting again in item 6.
- This is about summoning the “sub character” in a place where there already is another character that it will then (when instructed to do so) fight.
- This alternative scenario is about summoning the “sub character” at a position where there is no other character to fight immediately.
- This final step is about sending the “sub character” in a direction and then letting an automatic battle ensue with another character. It is not clear whether this is even needed if one previously executed step (4) where the “sub character” will basically be thrown at another character.
As Games Fray stressed, the ramifications for the wider industry cannot be understated, and may now prompt other developers and publishers, in turn, to file patents to protect other common in-game mechanics.
“The ‘397 patent poses a fundamental threat to creativity and innovation in the games industry,” the report stated. “That question is not specific to [the existing copyright lawsuit concerning] Palworld, but to a large number of games that already have that mechanic as well as future releases that will have it.”
Yesterday, we reported that Nintendo had secured a $2 million stipulated judgment and injunction against one of the modders Nintendo of America filed lawsuits against back in July last year, accusing them of violating its copyright by trading and selling “circumvention devices.”