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INTEREST: Nintendo in Legal Battle with Real-Life Mario Karting Rental Service




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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3447
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:57 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Nintendo is now considering requesting a trial for patent invalidation and filing a lawsuit at the Intellectual Property High Court.

Patent? Not trademark?
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Lord Vaultman



Joined: 03 Mar 2017
Posts: 810
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:49 pm Reply with quote
While i could really care less about the maricar company i really hope they win this and Nintendo loses this case. I mean when you sue someone over having a pokemon themed birthday party something is seriously wrong
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huyhn



Joined: 29 Dec 2011
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:59 pm Reply with quote
Lord Vaultman wrote:
While i could really care less about the maricar company i really hope they win this and Nintendo loses this case. I mean when you sue someone over having a pokemon themed birthday party something is seriously wrong


The article reminds me of the lawsuit against a Pokemon Fan who hosted "Unofficial Pokemon PAX kickoff party" when he used pokemon on a poster to advertise the pokemon themed event. A simple event created by a fan for fans, though he did charge a $2 admission fee to pay for the giveaways and the DJ. I'm guessing they're sueing in a similar fashion as MariCar is using cosplaying MarioKart to advertise their service.
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slau783



Joined: 04 Feb 2004
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:12 pm Reply with quote
huyhn wrote:
I'm guessing they're sueing in a similar fashion as MariCar is using cosplaying MarioKart to advertise their service.


This is what I thought, as they used pictures of people cosplaying as Nintendo characters to advertise their business and even used a slogan that promises people "Real Life Mario Kart." All of which has been removed from their website now. However, Nintendo might be over reaching trying to obtain rights over the name Maricar.
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TenCentFang



Joined: 28 Feb 2017
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:58 pm Reply with quote
Getting tourists to race go-karts on real open streets feels like a terrible idea even before you factor in the blatant copyright infringement. They claim they had an understanding with Nintendo and I'm curious if that's true, but there's really no other way this could have ended.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 2:14 am Reply with quote
Wow, this case sounds like it's become harder for Nintendo than I thought. It sounded like a slam dunk considering how blatant it is about looking like Mario Kart. Patent office has a point though: No one calls Mario Kart as "MariCar," and it's simply a writing around trademarks. But I think some of this difficulty is coming from some people's lack of familiarity with the Mario Kart games.

Blanchimont wrote:
Quote:
Nintendo is now considering requesting a trial for patent invalidation and filing a lawsuit at the Intellectual Property High Court.

Patent? Not trademark?


My guess is that the patent is in either the go-karts themselves or their business model, which had been called "MariCar," and Nintendo's going after that because it's easier to revoke this patent than kill their trademark.

Lord Vaultman wrote:
While i could really care less about the maricar company i really hope they win this and Nintendo loses this case. I mean when you sue someone over having a pokemon themed birthday party something is seriously wrong


That's a party. This is a business. MariCar is an operation whose main goal is to turn a profit. It wasn't made by fans (it doesn't look like it did, at least), and people earn a living solely through money made with MariCar. The MariCar service was created by businesspeople to make money off the brand name recognition of the Mario Kart series, apparently without Nintendo's permission. (If they DID get Nintendo's permission, they wouldn't have to call it "MariCar.") That's textbook infringement.

TenCentFang wrote:
Getting tourists to race go-karts on real open streets feels like a terrible idea even before you factor in the blatant copyright infringement. They claim they had an understanding with Nintendo and I'm curious if that's true, but there's really no other way this could have ended.


I wouldn't trust them saying they had an understanding with Nintendo. I've seen cases of other small businesses that attempt something to bank on the success of a widely recognized franchise and either never got permission in the first place or misinterpreted their responses as permission.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5824
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 3:24 am Reply with quote
If it isn't on paper, and if they don't have a preponderance of evidence suggesting an oral agreement, they are done. They just got lucky with the judge, it happens. Won't happen at the next trial though.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 4:47 am Reply with quote
I'm uncertain as to whether I want to say Nintendo should pull the stick out or not. There's clearly some details missing from this.
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grouwl



Joined: 12 Jun 2013
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 5:01 am Reply with quote
well...Mikerowesoft got to keep his name against the popular giant...stranger things have happened.
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Lord Vaultman



Joined: 03 Mar 2017
Posts: 810
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 2:20 pm Reply with quote
Lord Vaultman wrote:
While i could really care less about the maricar company i really hope they win this and Nintendo loses this case. I mean when you sue someone over having a pokemon themed birthday party something is seriously wrong


That's a party. This is a business. MariCar is an operation whose main goal is to turn a profit. It wasn't made by fans (it doesn't look like it did, at least), and people earn a living solely through money made with MariCar. The MariCar service was created by businesspeople to make money off the brand name recognition of the Mario Kart series, apparently without Nintendo's permission. (If they DID get Nintendo's permission, they wouldn't have to call it "MariCar.")

Not arguing that im arguing how Nintendo in general is a PITA for everyone whether the party involved is just throwing a party, making a fan made (not for profit) game, or a business model with a supposed mutual understanding initially. Many companies (like Sega) have embraced it because it generally increases brand awareness rather than hurts it
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
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Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 2:29 pm Reply with quote
Lord Vaultman wrote:
Not arguing that im arguing how Nintendo in general is a PITA for everyone whether the party involved is just throwing a party, making a fan made (not for profit) game, or a business model with a supposed mutual understanding initially. Many companies (like Sega) have embraced it because it generally increases brand awareness rather than hurts it


Not really. You don't see Sonic products that aren't officially licensed or underground knockoffs from southeast Asia or somesuch, or any other of SEGA's brands. It'd make no sense for a company with highly visible and highly recognizable brands to let other people make money off of them without permission (and likely royalties). The big difference here is that MariCar is for-profit whereas that party was not.

I very highly doubt there was any mutual understanding going on here. Again, if it was done with Nintendo's consent, it wouldn't have to be called "MariCar," and the videos wouldn't have to avoid naming the characters. Either MariCar got a letter from Nintendo that they thought was permission, or they never did anything and are lying about it.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5824
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:53 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
The big difference here is that MariCar is for-profit whereas that party was not.


It was my understanding that the party was also charging money too. Whether it was for actual profit or operating costs is not relevant.
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leafy sea dragon



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PostPosted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:39 pm Reply with quote
Oh, it was? That makes things a lot more complicated. For-profit and non-profit projects, of course, are treated differently by the law, but I thought it WAS relevant where the money is going in a non-profit project.
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KingMathias



Joined: 14 Mar 2017
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 5:36 pm Reply with quote
Keep in mind if a company doesn't fight to protect it's copyright/patent, they run the risk of losing that copyright/patent. So if you want some sort of protection from everything we hold dear to our hearts when it comes to the brand that is Nintendo, this is a must.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5824
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 5:15 am Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
Oh, it was? That makes things a lot more complicated. For-profit and non-profit projects, of course, are treated differently by the law, but I thought it WAS relevant where the money is going in a non-profit project.

The party problem for Nintendo was that they would have had to take the word of the operator that it was only for non-profit. And really for all intents and purposes the party looked like it was for profit. If Nintendo had asked for the "books", it would make them appear that they were indeed sanctioning the event, which would give the party operator more power in any lawsuit.

It is poor form to be charging money for someone else's work, even if it is a multinational company. If they wanted to do these parties, they should have just self funded it themselves, but they were running a business instead.
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