Overview
- USPTO director John A. Squires ordered an ex parte re‑examination of U.S. patent 12,403,397 covering a mechanic where a sub‑character fights either automatically or under manual control.
- Squires cited Konami’s 2002 Yabe patent and Nintendo’s 2020 Taura patent as raising substantial new questions of patentability because both teach manual and automatic battle modes.
- Games Fray reports that a director‑initiated re‑examination is rare, with the last comparable instance noted in 2012.
- Japan’s patent office rejected Nintendo’s application 2024‑031879 for lack of inventive step, pointing to prior art in ARK, Monster Hunter 4, Craftopia, Kantai Collection, and Pokémon GO.
- The rejected Japanese filing sits between two granted patents being asserted in the Tokyo case, a positioning that could inform validity challenges even as the lawsuit continues and Nintendo retains options to amend or appeal.