Pocketpair goes on to say that Palworld has been claimed to infringe on three patents held by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company and that part of the damage is required as compensation.
The first patent is one that most had guessed to be part of the case, as 7545191 refers to the process of capturing and befriending Pokemon, which Palworld apes with its Pal Spheres. The other two patents that are included in the lawsuit, 7493117 and 7528390 haven’t been found and detailed just yet, but they’re likely also mechanics in Pokemon games that are replicated in Palworld.
The butchering mechanic is mostly there as a joke. After you do it once, you unlock a much better and friendlier version of recycling your duplicate Pals.
Oh… I never butchered because that just seemed wrong. Is there any way to just get to the friendlier version without butchering?
Yeah just level up. Though there is an improved industrial pal shredder Fargo style at the end game too if you went to automate things.