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29 March 2016Trademarks

Nintendo applies to trademark Mario coin chime

Video games company Nintendo has applied to trademark the sound of coin-collecting from the “Mario” series of games.

The two-tone jingle originally appeared in the “Super Mario Bros” game, which was released in 1985.

Nintendo applied for the trademark at the Japan Patent Office in February and the application was published on March 22.

Japan’s trademark law previously did not allow for sound trademarks, but recently-passed legislation allows for both sounds and colours to be registered.

Users of Nintendo news website My Nintendo News speculated about whether the trademark would be accepted.

One said: “They [Nintendo] created it first. When you hear it you know where it’s from; there’s no confusion about it.”

Another added: “Just because it’s famous doesn’t mean anyone who’s heard it before would know it’s from a Mario game.”

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