News Article

"Wii Smile" Not Smiling Much Anymore

Posted Mon, 04 May 2009 by Damien McFerran

Say "arrrgggghhhhhh"

Say "arrrgggghhhhhh"

Swedish Dentist is forced to change name by Nintendo's crack team of lawyers

It's a classic "David vs. Goliath" battle. A small dental surgery in Malmö, Sweden up against a multi-million dollar video game giant.

Sadly, in this case, Goliath won.

Nintendo has taken legal action to force the surgery in question to change its name - which was previously "Wii Smile". Before you cynically assume that the firm was established in order to benefit from the enormous popularity of Nintendo's console, it should be noted co-owner Christer Wihlborg picked the moniker because his surname starts with "Wi" and there are two owners.

Sadly for him, Nintendo registered their trademark over the name "Wii" in 2006 and Wii Smile only started up in 2007. Epic fail.

In a final twist, Nintendo is adamant that it's taking action not only because the name is the same, but because its "Wii" trademark also applies to dentistry.

Could the Big N be planning a dentist simulator for the Wii? Stranger things have happened...

Source: kotaku.com.

Tags: Drama, Law, Wii, Weird.

User Comments

mastersworddude

1. mastersworddude United States 04 May 2009, 23:22 BST

If a Dentist simulator comes out fro Wii i am gonna be pissed.

Nanaki

2. Nanaki United Kingdom 04 May 2009, 23:25 BST

The sad tooth of the matter is that Nintendo are greedy about the Wii brand...

Hardcore Nintendo Fan

3. Hardcore Nintendo Fan United States 04 May 2009, 23:26 BST

thats what the dentist get lol

Adam

4. Adam United States 04 May 2009, 23:27 BST

Oh Nanaki, that was tooth good.

Token Girl

5. Token Girl United States 04 May 2009, 23:29 BST

Trauma Center: Dentist?

Objection_Blaster

6. Objection_Blaster United States 05 May 2009, 00:06 BST

That last part has me scared/excited. Let's rip some teeth out, Trauma Center style!!

Neomega

7. Neomega United States 05 May 2009, 00:26 BST

Nanaki you win the Internet!

I read this at 0700 on kotaku

Damo

8. Damo United Kingdom 05 May 2009, 00:59 BST

@Party On Dude - It has nothing to do with Nintendo? WTF?

Chrono Cross

9. Chrono Cross United States 05 May 2009, 01:59 BST

@Nanaki & Adam
Keep it up guys! :D

Nintendo-Naut

10. Nintendo-Naut United States 05 May 2009, 02:36 BST

A bit touchy, no?

odd69

11. odd69 United States 05 May 2009, 04:59 BST

umm nintendo has every right to do this.it cost money to register the "wii name" so they have every right to tell this man that he cannot use it. they own it, it belongs to them case closed.

MickEiA

12. MickEiA Australia 05 May 2009, 08:17 BST

i dont really get this

NESGamepro

13. NESGamepro United States 05 May 2009, 09:21 BST

I think Nintendo is doing the right thing to protect their trademarks. OK, so he happens to have "Wi" in his name, big deal. He's clearly trying to ride the Wii wave of success, no matter what he says. Why not just call it "Wi Smile" if you claim it has nothing to do with Wii. I'll bet he's a kid's dentist too.

It reminds me of the Mike Rowe Soft story from a few years ago. At least that is his real name though and he actually makes software.

Ian Daemon

14. Ian Daemon United States 05 May 2009, 14:07 BST

The dentist is obviously wrong. Good for Nintendo.

MegaRockman 1990

15. MegaRockman 1990 Sweden 05 May 2009, 16:05 BST

HAHA funny story :)

Starwolf_UK

16. Starwolf_UK United Kingdom 05 May 2009, 17:14 BST

Does Nintendo really need to flex its legal muscles like this? I'm really not impressed. I do agree the dentist should have been more careful with the naming.

pie4prez

17. pie4prez United States 05 May 2009, 17:57 BST

It would be cool to have a Dentist Simulator.
The Final Boss could be a 5 year old kid who has never brushed his teeth.

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