Banner Witcoff’s Ross Dannenberg was quoted in Law360’s article, IP Attorneys Aren’t Playing Into Pokémon Patent Panic. He says the response to the patent from players and other consumers gets overblown, especially when discussions about it flourish on the social media site Reddit. “They read the abstract and maybe the summary, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe they patented this.’ But the claims are the legal boundary that define the invention.” However, in this instance, Ross agrees the claims go too far.
Ross goes on to discuss the impact of Nintendo’s patent application being approved on its first try. “That is almost unheard of. The fact that this patent was issued without any rejections, with claims as broad as they were, is incredible. All signs point to poor examination quality here.” He adds that it’s not entirely the fault of examiners, however. “They just don’t have capabilities. How do you do that? Do you send them to the video game museum and say, ‘Play all these games?’ But they need to have an interactive media consultant or searching consultant or specialist to fill that gap, because this patent is Exhibit A for what happens when you don’t do that.”
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Posted: September 17, 2025
