Last September, in the mix of suing Palworld developer Pocketpair for allegedly taking its copyrighted material, Nintendo and Pokémon filed a new patent which seemed quite unfair for any game developer trying to make some type of summoning or battling experience. The new patent would have claimed those mechanics, and instantly was criticised by those in the know in the industry and lawyers, too.
Now, as per GamesFray, following the US patent office ordering a re-examination of the patent, and a judgement on whether it should have been granted in the first place, a rejection has been issued on it. After Nintendo let the deadline on a response to the office slip, the USPTO then rejected all claims of the patent, based not on playing a single game, but instead looking at three prior art references to previous patent applications.
This rejection isn't final, and even if it were, Nintendo and Pokémon don't have to give up the fight there. Nintendo again has two months to respond to the decision, but can request an extension if it wishes. This could potentially throw Nintendo's arguments in court against Pocketpair up in the air, as plenty of other games use summoning and battling mechanics which currently aren't protected by a patent. As mentioned, though, that fight is far from over.