Nintendo Loses Legal Battle With An Unexpected Super Mario

In court disputes, not many people would prefer to be on the other end compared to Nintendo. Known for their triumph in the Donkey Kong-related lawsuit against Universal Pictures four decades back, they seldom lose high-profile cases. However, there’s at least one man who has achieved a legal success versus Nintendo: Don Mario – but it’s more of a technicality than an outright win.

According to Eurogamer, a man named Don Mario runs a local grocery store in San Ramón, Costa Rica called Super Mario. For years, it seems Nintendo has left this shop untouched, but when Don Mario needed to renew the trademark with Costa Rica’s National Register, they objected only to the store name. Remarkably, Don Mario and his son, Charlito, managed to win this dispute since supermarkets are one of the few types of businesses where Nintendo never registered the Super Mario trademark.

Charlito Mario expressed gratitude on Facebook towards his legal advisor and accountant, Edgardo Jimenez Blanco, for handling the trademark registration and subsequent battle for its rights. At one point, it seemed as though they might give up. After all, we were up against a formidable commercial giant. But Edgardo and I persevered, and just recently, we received fantastic news – Super Mario will continue to exist!

Regarding Nintendo, this well-known legal-minded firm took action against a supposed pirate using the Switch in court. Additionally, it is said that their legal team paid a visit to Genki following its demonstration of a potential Switch 2 prototype at CES. Recently, Nintendo’s patent attorney, Koji Nishiura, clarified the company’s stance on why they consider certain emulators to be unlawful.

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2025-01-29 19:38