the mechanic is capturing a creature by weakening them and throwing a ball at them. Not just throwing a ball.

And like I've said before, Shin Megami Tensei did this before Pokemon. This concept was not original to Pokemon, and exists in several other creature catcher games.

None of the creatures I've seen are entirely new designs, but rather hybrids of existing, well known Pokemon.

Then you haven't seen a large portion of Pals. Plenty of pals are unique. Some of them look similar to Pokemon, sure, because they're based on the same real world animal.

outright lying to defend them and ignoring obvious facts does

🙄🙄🙄

It's fine to admit that a thing you like has flaws, and admit that those flaws need addressing.

K, Palworld has flaws. Never claimed otherwise.

We've run far field of the point though. Palworld is being sued for patent infringement. If there was ever a patent on the "weaken creature then capture" mechanic, it's long expired, so they're not being sued over that. They're not being sued over art or Pal designs, because that would be copyright infringement, not a patent violation.

Given those facts, what do you think Palworld is being sued for?