The United States Patent Office is set to review Nintendo’s infamous patent which sits at the center of its controversial lawsuit against competitor Palworld.

As previously reported, last year Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocket Pair, implying that the indie hit is too similar to Nintendo’s popular Pokemon franchise.

The patent in question refers to a gameplay mechanic where a player on a field summons a “subcharacter” who interacts with the field. To be honest we’ve gone into detail about this here, but suffice it to say Nintendo appears to be trying to patent the simple act of summoning characters.

According to Games Fray, James Squire the director of the United States Patent and Trade Office has called the validity of the patents into question. Squire’s order makes reference to “prior art” which uses mechanics that are present in Nintendo’s patent as a reason for possible ineligibility.

Since Nintendo announced their lawsuit, there has been an overwhelmingly negative response to what many consider to be overreach by Nintendo and the Pokemon Company in an attempt to crush competition rather than improve the quality of their own games.