Nintendo are widely known of being extremely vigorous when protecting their IP. However, Go-Kart company, MariCar, which is based in Japan, has just won a trademark battle with Nintendo and they in turn get to keep the MariCar name. The Japan Patent Office in January dismissed an objection filed by Nintendo Co. over the MariCar trademark registered by a Tokyo-based go-kart service company. In a decision dated January 26, the patent office said the trademark, registered in June 2016 by the go-kart service operator MariCar, was not widely recognised as an abbreviation of Nintendo’s blockbuster video game title “Mario Kart.”
MariCar let’s tourists drive their own Karts around the streets of Tokyo whilst donning some familiar looking costumes. You can even pay extra to have your own speaker system attached to the Kart.
This isn’t the only dealings Nintendo have had with MariCar. Nintendo are in the process of suing the Go-Kart company for copyright infringement and are currently seeking 10 million Yen in damages.
So they tried to go after the name, too? I’m honestly glad Nintendo lost this case. It wasn’t even a word til these guys used it first. Nintendo still have a case with the other thing but this shouldn’t have been an issue. They used it first so fuck off with that bullshit, Nintendo!
and who call mk maricart. nobody…
Yea nintendo might win the other case but there was no chance in winning the name case lol
I’m kinda surprised. MariCar is like 2.5 letters off of Mariokart (missing O and T and did a subtle change of K to C – Sort of like how Mortal Kombat is spelled with a K instead of a C).
I will be more surprised if they lose the other cases as this company allows you to use costumes.
In terms of the name – it’d be like me creating a game called the Sup Maro Bros or something. It’s close to the actual name.
And that’s why Mortal Kombat was able to be made into a copyrighted trademark because they changed a letter. The guys that awarded MariCar the win most likely had that in mind when they decided against Nintendo. It’s called a precedent. Lawyers & defense attorneys use them all the time. Nintendo could fight the precedent, sure, but why bother? Nintendo would just end up looking petty as fuck to anyone that isn’t one of their fanboys.
https://youtu.be/-N4f4sR_QpY
Not really. Nintendo never used the term & the guys who created the name MariCar removed some letters & changed one of the letters, similar to how Mortal Kombat was made into a copyrighted trademark name.
But don’t worry. This is a different case from the other one where the copyright infringement is much more obvious with no way around it. Nintendo will most likely win that one so rejoice in that victory when it happens!
||Silence, we must win against everything no matter how illogical it is…||
Lol!!! Karma at its finest. Someone who actually steals Nintendo’s stuff gets to do it and people who don’t steal their stuff with Lps gets favorites for Nintendo. Ha. Can’t make it up
This is kind of ironic, seeing as how Nintendo just won a case recently, now they lost. I hope the case settlement fee doesn’t hurt futher development of the Switch.
Not to mention all the AM2R, Pokemon Uranium, and Pokemon Prism bull.
Hurt further development? Nintendo is killing itself in that front. They have money to have decades worth of litigation, they’ll be fine.
See nintendo doesn’t win everytime in court. Now somebody please fight nintendo japan over their youtube policies.
Nintendo should copyright every abbreviation or phonetic spelling for all of their IP. That’s how fucked up the legal system is.
It is so similar that it isn’t even funny. The name and the actual product. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence.
My brother actually knew a woman named Maricar years ago. At least, it sure seems like that was her name. I remember thinking, “what a stupid name”.
There is a name in some parts of Europe for women called Marika and Marica.
For this reason, I’m still confused to how Microsoft was ruled against when a broadcasting company called Sky sued Microsoft over Skydrive. It’s not like anyone would hear the word sky and think of Microsoft’s cloud service.
Just goes to show American courts are stupid as hell with these name cases. Thankfully, Japan is smarter.
But yeah. Microsoft lost because apparently the court that handled it were dumbshits.
Are they still allowed to dress up like obvious Nintendo characters?
Maybe they could have went to Nintendo and seek official license to do this thing?
That’s a separate topic for the lawsuit. This is only the name.
So many Nintendo “fans” whiny that Nintendo rightfully got their asses kicked. “But the name is too similar!” *rolls eyes* Look up precedents & Mortal Kombat. The changes to the name are very minor but that doesn’t matter. Precedent says if the name has a few letters changed, it’s perfectly LEGAL to do it & there is nothing Nintendo can do. Just goes to show the Japan courts aren’t nearly as stupid as American courts in these name cases. Oh I know! You guys can always start a petition to get them to overturn their decision! lol I guarantee there aren’t enough of ya.
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