As reported by Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, Nintendo has won a case against a go-karting company over the usage of Mario Kart trademarks. A Tokyo-based company known as MARI Mobility Development offered go-kart rides based around Mario Kart, including costumes of characters such as Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi. The case has been going on since 2017, where Nintendo initially lost, but it appears that the tides are turning in the conglomerate’s favor.
MARI had already lost one appeal in January of this year, with another one being dismissed just before Christmas by Judge Katsuyuki Kizawa of the Supreme Court of Japan. The go-karting company has been ordered to pay 50 million yen (US$480,000 as of this time of publication) to Nintendo in compensation and is forbade from using any further Nintendo trademarks.
This ruling appears to be the final nail in the coffin for the long-running case, at least for MARI’s usage of Nintendo trademarks. MARI is not the only company offering go-karting experiences in Tokyo, with other companies marketing the renting of costumes based upon licensed characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Whether the likes of Marvel, DC, and Nickelodeon will seek legal action is unknown.
It appears that this move was made by Nintendo to protect its intellectual property from potential controversy. Go-karting is an activity with many potential dangers due to it happening on the streets of Tokyo rather than an enclosed environment. An accident involving people dressed as Super Mario characters could prove disastrous for the gaming company’s image and it seems that this legal case was done to prevent this potential PR scandal from happening.
Nintendo is known for being a fairly litigious company, having recently sued hackers looking to circumvent the Switch’s copyright protection. Among the various lawsuits the Kyoto-based company has engaged in include the removal of fan games, emulations, and the general usage of its vast intellectual property. The video game company is currently being sued by various plaintiffs over the recurring Switch Joy-Con drift issue.
The Japanese multinational is also known to tightly manage its image. In a recent podcast, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé revealed that he and Shigeru Miyamoto were approached by rapper Kanye West over a potential video game collaboration. Following a meeting with West and his wife Kim Kardashian, Fils-Aimé was forced to turn them down stating that Nintendo “is a strict company, and that he probably would not want to work with them anyway.”
Source: NHK
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