[quotemsg=18337133,0,1312467][quotemsg=18337088,0,358916][quotemsg=18335792,0,1312467]
No, The Pokemon Company owns the Pokemon IP. That is the core of their business.[/quotemsg]
Actually it's jointly held by Nintendo, Creatures Inc, GameFreak, and the The Pokemon Company.[/quotemsg]
Again, this is incorrect. These companies mentioned above own part of The Pokemon Company. The Pokemon Company actually owns the IP. In a sense, it does mean these companies also own the IP, but only due to partial ownership of a third-party. [/quotemsg]
It's a convoluted mess, but all hold certain rights to the franchise.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1008721
It's as good a summary as any that I've seen.
Basically it started with Nintendo, GameFreak, and Creatures Inc and they did a joint venture to create The Pokemon Company. However, they never fully gave up all rights to the IP when this happened.