{"id":3540,"date":"2026-05-09T14:39:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T11:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/?p=3540"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:29:09","slug":"nintendo-41-million-lawsuit-losses-blackberry-palworld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gamermarkt.com\/blog\/nintendo-41-million-lawsuit-losses-blackberry-palworld\/","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo Lost $41 Million in Lawsuits: What’s Behind the Massive Legal Bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Nintendo disclosed $41 million in litigation losses in its FY2026 financial report. While the Palworld lawsuit grabs headlines, a confidential BlackBerry patent settlement appears to be the real source of the expense.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Nintendo disclosed \u00a56.414 billion (approximately $41 million) in litigation losses in its consolidated financial report for fiscal year 2026, published on May 8, 2026. The figure accounts for nearly 96% of the company’s total extraordinary losses during the 12-month period ending March 2026. Nintendo did not specify which legal proceedings caused the expense, but the timeline and nature of its recent disputes offer strong clues.<\/p>\n\n

What the Financial Report Actually Says<\/h2>\n\n

The \u00a56.414 billion expense is classified as “litigation losses” in Nintendo’s report, a category distinct from routine legal spending or ongoing defense costs. In accounting and legal terms, a litigation loss typically reflects a finalised court judgment, an adverse settlement payment, or a mandatory licensing fee resulting from a concluded legal process. The only other extraordinary expense listed was \u00a5250 million ($1.7 million) for disposal of non-current assets, covering items like office equipment and buildings.<\/p>\n\n

The wider financial picture for Nintendo’s FY2026 was exceptionally strong. Net sales nearly doubled year-on-year, reaching \u00a52.313 trillion. Operating profit rose 27.5% to \u00a5360.1 billion, and net profit surged 52.1% to \u00a5424 billion, driven largely by the successful launch of Nintendo Switch 2 and robust game sales. Against that backdrop, the $41 million litigation expense is proportionally small but notable for what it reveals about Nintendo’s legal landscape.<\/p>\n\n

Is the Palworld Lawsuit Responsible?<\/h2>\n\n

The most high-profile legal battle Nintendo is currently fighting involves Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld. Nintendo and The Pok\u00e9mon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair in the Tokyo District Court in September 2024, alleging that Palworld’s creature-catching and mount-switching mechanics violated multiple Nintendo patents.<\/p>\n\n

However, this case remains unresolved as of May 2026. No verdict has been handed down, and no settlement has been announced. Because “litigation loss” implies a concluded payment rather than ongoing legal costs, and because Nintendo is the plaintiff in this case, the Palworld lawsuit is unlikely to be the main contributor to the $41 million figure. Nintendo would not typically record a loss for a case it initiated and is still actively prosecuting.<\/p>\n\n

The Palworld case has been going poorly for Nintendo in several respects. Pocketpair has mounted a dual defence, arguing both that it did not infringe the patents and that the patents themselves are invalid. The Japan Patent Office (JPO) cast serious doubt on two of Nintendo’s three patents-in-suit, rejecting one on the basis that the claimed technique lacked an inventive step. Meanwhile, in the United States, the USPTO revoked all 26 claims in Nintendo’s controversial “summon and fight” patent (US Patent No. 12,403,397) in a non-final decision issued in April 2026. The examiner cited Nintendo’s own older filings and a 2002 Konami patent as prior art, concluding the claims were not patentably non-obvious.<\/p>\n\n

The BlackBerry Patent Settlement: A Stronger Explanation<\/h2>\n\n

A far more plausible source for the $41 million loss is Nintendo’s recently settled patent dispute with Malikie Innovations and Key Patent Innovations. Malikie, an Ireland-based firm that owns over 30,000 former BlackBerry patents, sued Nintendo in September 2024 in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington over six software patents. In parallel, Malikie filed two complaints in the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) Hamburg Local Division over two unrelated European patents.<\/p>\n\n

The patents covered a range of technologies, from dock interfaces and battery charging methods to MIMO-OFDM communication systems, all allegedly used in the Nintendo Switch family of devices. Nintendo countered by filing petitions for inter partes review at the USPTO and counterclaims for revocation at the UPC.<\/p>\n\n

In November 2025, both parties withdrew their respective infringement claims and revocation counterclaims in the UPC Hamburg proceedings. This withdrawal strongly indicates that a settlement agreement was reached, at least for the European jurisdiction. Although the US proceedings were stayed around the same time due to pending patent reviews, the pattern of withdrawal and the subsequent quiet on both sides suggest a global resolution was likely in progress during Nintendo’s fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n

Because Nintendo was the defendant in this dispute and the expense is labelled a litigation “loss” rather than a routine legal cost, the BlackBerry patent settlement is the strongest candidate for the bulk of the $41 million.<\/p>\n\n

Nintendo’s Broader Patent War in 2026<\/h2>\n\n

The $41 million loss is part of a wider pattern of patent-related challenges facing Nintendo. The company is simultaneously dealing with several legal fronts:<\/p>\n\n