Interest
Nintendo's Lawsuit Against Real-Life Mario Kart Company Goes to Court
posted on by Amanda Whalen
Nintendo's lawsuit against the Shinagawa-based company MariCar had its first oral proceedings at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday, April 18.
Nintendo is seeking damages of 10,000,000 yen (about USD $92,000) against the company, which rents out go-carts and Mario costumes and gives customers a chance to experience real-life Mario Kart on the streets of Tokyo. Nintendo is claiming that MariCar's name, use of Mario costumes, and distribution of images of customers wearing these costumes without permission constitutes unfair competition and copyright infringement.
Tokyo District Court presiding judge Yoshiaki Shibata is overseeing the case. Representatives from MariCar, which previously claimed to have an agreement with Nintendo allowing them to operate, said, "The go-carts and costumes were rented to costumers by a separately managed company that we have a business relationship with. Our company was only furnishing and maintaining the go-carts, so we should not be the relevant party in this lawsuit."
