If you cast your mind back a little under a year ago, you may recall hearing of a tour service in Japan which offered to give you a Mario Kart-like experience of the city. As part of a tourism service, you could drive around Toyko (in costume) using go-karts based on the popular Nintendo game.
As fun as this might sound, as you might imagine, Nintendo didn’t take too kindly to this unauthorised use of their IP. Therefore, following an initial C&D order, the company (then known as MariCar and now as MariMobility) looked to counter this legally as fair-usage.
In a report via Hypebeast, however, the final appeal has formally concluded and Nintendo has successfully won their claim.
With Nintendo only originally looking to claim around $90,000 in ‘damages’ the unsuccessful appeal by MariMobility will now undoubtedly result in a fine that will ultimately end the company completely. It was, however, somewhat brave of them to go against Nintendo. We all know just how vicious their lawyers can be!
While not discussing the case specifically, Nintendo has made it perfectly clear what they think about this. Well, that and to warn anyone else who dares to tip-toe onto their IP territories.
“We will continue to take necessary measures against infringements of our brand in order to protect our valuable intellectual property that we have developed over the years.”
The pity is that this did seem a pretty novel and an amazing way to see Tokyo. Admittedly, Nintendo’s decision to challenge it is understandable. Particularly since a number of the go-karts were reportedly getting involved in collisions with vehicles. Still though, I’m somewhat sad to see this go.
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
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