After months of will they / won't they, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair for alleged patent infringement. But, one industry intellectual property expert says it's "unlikely Nintendo owns any valid patents that are so powerful as to prevent Pocketpair from making Palworld.

One IP expert predicts that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company's lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair is "more likely to last five years" than be settled in just one, but he's also confident that the indie survival game studio can "easily" afford the battle to come.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing the company behind the game, which fans dubbed “Pokémon with guns,” for patent infringement.