I think it was Dragon Quest that they did a comparison of its monster's artwork and the original 100 Pokemon and Pokemon was a blatant copy of it just as much as Palworld's "pals" copy their pokemon.
They probably would have a case for copyright, though, as the plagiarism is obvious not just in the designs, but in some of the actual 3D Models being apparently ripped from a Pokemon game, but they're going for patent infringement.
The patents that exist on videogame technology are cancer, I saw a video on the topic from BaityBait (it's in Spanish) not that long ago and companies like Nintendo have been stopping others from using VERY BASIC game mechanics, that truly shouldn't be allowed.
So fuck Nintendo, even if they win.