I don’t believe I’ve read either. I’ll put those on my list. I’d love to be proven wrong. Usually I’m more into light hearted things, which doesn’t necessarily seem to be Steinbeck’s wheelhouse (I can be sad in real life, after all), but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy more down to earth or down right depressing works.
Even if it was (a lot of similar designs are due to common inspirations such as folk tales, but also a lot are direct parodies, and parodies can be made legally distinct) (but also, the Pokemon team itself rejected the copyright suit suggested by the public in their own public statement a while ago) the lawsuit is over parents, not copyright. Patents implies technological theft. Or bogus patent claims, more often than not. (Patenting math should be illegal, for instance.)