Japanese court puts brakes on Mario Kart go-karting rental
The Tokyo District Court has ruled in favour of Nintendo in a copyright infringement claim filed against a Mario Kart-inspired go-karting rental company.
According to a press release issued by Nintendo on Thursday, September 27, the court ordered the go-karting company, called MariCar, to stop using the likeness of Mario Cart characters.
MariCar rented out go-karts to people in Tokyo. When a person rented one of the go-karts, they would also be given a character costume from the Mario Kart universe, such as Mario, Luigi or Princess Peach.
The case dates back to February 2017, when Nintendo filed its copyright infringement claim.
The electronics and video game company alleged that MariCar had been renting unauthorised costumes to its customers and using their pictures for publicity purposes and sales.
In addition, Nintendo claimed that MariCar is an abbreviation of Mario Kart.
The company asked for damages from the go-karting company of ¥10 million ($89,000). Although Nintendo said in its press release that the court had awarded damages, it did not say how much.
Nintendo has been vigilant in protecting its IP rights in the past.
In April 2017, the company opposed a trademark filed by a US-based couple who were looking to use the name ‘Poké Go’ for clothing. In its opposition, Nintendo said that the trademark would be confusingly similar with its own Poké trademarks.
And, in July this year, Nintendo filed a copyright and trademark infringement claim against a US-based individual over “hubs” used for pirated online content. The company claimed that the man was running two websites that reproduce and distribute “a staggering number of unauthorised copies of Nintendo’s video games".
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