Japan’s Patent Office rejected Nintendo’s latest patent for monster-catching mechanics on touch-screen devices,The application number is 2026-019762. The patent covered common actions like tapping to move your character, throwing capture items at wild creatures, summoning caught monsters to battle, and tapping on-screen buttons for attacks and items. Officials said these rules are not new or special, they are just standard monster-catching gameplay already seen in games like Pokémon, with no real invention. This patent belongs to the same group Nintendo is using in its court case against Palworld developer Pocketpair. Nintendo changed the claims in February 2026, but the office still rejected it. They can try again, but the strong reasons given make it difficult. The lawsuit against Palworld continues, and Pocketpair has already made changes to avoid issues.