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Amid Claims Pokémon TCG Pocket Features a Design Traced From Fan Art, Creators Point Out That Pokémon’s Legal Terms Likely Allow the Company to Monetise Any Fan-Made Content It Wants

The Pokémon fan community is alight with concern that a piece of fan artwork has been copied to create a card within Pokémon TCG Pocket.

But as frustration spreads, others have pointed back to Pokémon’s official stance on fanart — which suggests the company can do whatever it wants with it.

This morning, Pokémon fan artist lanjiujiu posted comparison images of a piece of artwork they created in 2021 showing Legendary bird Ho-Oh, alongside an upcoming card from Pokémon TCG Pocket’s 2025 expansion Wisdom of Sea and Sky, showing Ho-Oh in exactly the same pose.

lanjiujiu’s post on X / Twitter quickly caught the attention of other Pokémon fans, and prompted another user to make a video comparison that shows the two pieces of artwork are largely identical, down to the bird’s individual feathers.

Fans have suggested that the Pokémon artist working on this official card design has traced lanjiujiu’s artwork, and done so without providing credit. lanjiujiu, meanwhile, appears to have learned about the situation this morning, as Wisdom of Sea and Sky’s cards were datamined.

Writing on X / Twitter (translated by AI), lanjiujiu acknowledged their original 2021 artwork was a commission, paid for by someone else, and that there was always a possibility the datamined card design being shared was fake.

“I was just shocked after seeing the leaked image, so I posted it,” lanjiujiu wrote. “As a fan, I might be the one most reluctant to believe this matter.”

lanjiujiu’s 2021 artwork appears to have been originally commissioned by PC House studio, a company that makes and sells unofficial models of anime and video game characters. Indeed, a 2022 model featuring Ho-Oh and other legendary birds looks to feature the same pose as in lanjiujiu’s artwork — meaning the official Pokémon TCG Pocket card now features the same pose as this bootleg figurine, too.

As for concern the official artwork has been faked — as Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion isn’t technically available until tomorrow — there is little doubt among fans of its veracity. The entire set’s contents have been summarily datamined and posted online on numerous Pokémon fan sites, including the reliable Serebii. There’s even recordings of this card’s stylishly-animated immersive art, showing the aforementioned Ho-Oh design soaring around other Pokémon.

But even if this is a straight copy, does it matter from a legal standpoint? Fans have been quick to point to The Pokémon Company’s legal stance on fanart, which suggests the corporation has free reign to use whatever creator-made content it wishes, in return for allowing its designs to be used by fans.

“Distribution in any form and any channels now known or in the future of derivative works based on the copyrighted property trademarks, service marks, trade names and other proprietary property (Fan Art) of The Pokémon Company International, Inc., its affiliates and licensors (Pokémon) constitutes a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license from the Fan Art’s creator to Pokémon to use, transmit, copy, modify, and display Fan Art (and its derivatives) for any purpose,” Pokémon’s publicly available legal information reads.

In other words, if you make Pokémon fan art available to others, you are also making it available to The Pokémon Company to do what it wants with.

“No further consideration or compensation of any kind will be given for any Fan Art,” the statement continues. “Fan Art creator gives up any claims that the use of the Fan Art violates any of their rights, including moral rights, privacy rights, proprietary rights publicity rights, rights to credit for material or ideas or any other right, including the right to approve the way such material is used. In no uncertain terms, does Pokémon’s use of Fan Art constitute a grant to Fan Art’s creator to use the Pokémon intellectual property or Fan Art beyond a personal, noncommercial home use.”

Here, The Pokémon Company states it does not see a need to notify or credit fan art creators should it ever use their work, and creators have no say over how it is used.

Speaking to IGN, video game industry legal expert Richard Hoeg, host of the Virtual Legality podcast, said the statement acts as an acknowledgement that fans will create their own Pokémon art — but that ultimately, from a legal standpoint, any publicly-shared designs fall under the ownership of The Pokémon Company.

“It effectively says ‘Look, we (TPC/Nintendo) are legally still the only ones allowed to make derivative works (fan art included), but we all know you’re going to do it,” Hoeg said, “so if you do, on the off-chance it’s special, we can use it without otherwise paying you (since it was ours to begin with)’.”

Would such a legal stance hold water, should lanjiujiu or anyone else fancy lawyering up and taking on The Pokémon Company in court?

“I think it likely for that to be effective it comes with an implied promise by TPC/Nintendo that they not sue fan artists for infringement (as an effective license like this needs consideration on both sides),” Hoeg said, “so it would be interesting to see if they’ve sued others on that score, but overall it seems a smart (albeit novel) legal strategy.”

Fans have been quick to suggest lanjiujiu should take the matter forward, but for now there seems to be no sign of that happening — and considering The Pokémon Company’s legal might, it seems unlikely. In the meantime, IGN has contacted The Pokémon Company for comment, and asked if the card will remain available despite the furore.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

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