Nintendo wins judgment against real-life Mario Kart operator in Japan
The video game maker is ultra protective of its intellectual property
Bad news, would-be Marios (or, like ex-F1 ace Jenson Button above, Princesses). Marika Co., the entity behind all those real-life Mario Kart
sightings on the streets of Tokyo, has been ordered to stop renting to
tourists and residents costumes that resemble the characters famously
featured in Nintendo's franchise video games.
This judgment comes after Nintendo sued Marika in February of 2017
for violation of intellectual property. Tokyo District Court sided with
Nintendo in a ruling that also requires Marika pay Nintendo 10 million
yen in damages. That's about $88,000. As of the time this story was
published, the website where the karts are booked remains active and populated with plenty of Nintendo-themed characters.
Best we can tell, Marika hasn't been shut down completely, and may still
be able to rent go-karts on public streets in Japan. It just can't
provide its patrons with outfits to make them look like Mario, Luigi,
Princess, Peach, or any other bit of intellectual property owned by
Nintendo.
(AutoBlog.com)
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