There Will Be No More Drifting Around Tokyo In Unlicensed Mario Karts, As Nintendo Wins Lawsuit

Expected. IP theft is no joke. The only franchise I can think of who would let anything like this happen without at least trying to take it down would be Transformers, and that's a rarity.

Oh I thought the title was talking about the drifting joycon issue..

"business" That is why. You can't use someone else's intellectual property rights without permission in a business. If it was just a club of friends having fun, Nintendo would have no ground to stand on, and they wouldn't care.

@Tasuki You mean like the Mario Kart portion of the Nintendo Land at Universal? Which is a project they've been working on for quite a while, well before this lawsuit happened. While I don't always like the way Nintendo treats fan projects, in this case they had every right to sue a company who was using their IP to make money.

A few guys I know did a bar crawl a few weeks ago with big wheels while dressed in Mario character costumes.

People complained to the cops and the cops didn't do anything about it. The cops even took pics with them. 😂

I then edited the video they uploaded to Facebook with MK64 music, sfx and the voices. They thought it was hilarious.

Well, at least it isn't a fan game or emulator site (but maybe that makes it worse).

I just rode Maricars in Akihabara in March and I’m happy that they’re at least staying open. I can see how Nintendo could imagine that it’s bad for their brand, because there are plenty of people who are pissed off that your driving something so low to the ground next to them and they can’t see you. Also a fleet of carts can take up a long stretch of a lane on a busy road which is probably pretty annoying. But on the flip side of that many of the people in the city love watching the karts go by and will wave and take pics etc. Nintendo is right in this case (hard to swallow but they are), but this business should continue to thrive anyway. People will just be riding around as anime characters instead and it will be just as fun....but I will miss dressing up as Wario.....

@Darlinfan
But then can lock up a bunch of drunks riding around on kids toys for the night if they wanted.

@Liam_Doolan Just move it to China where they don't care.

Well, it is their stuff. So they have a say.

I dont think the guy dressed as Barney selling purple balloons in time square is "licensed"... Sometimes a company let this kind of stuff go. Sometimes not.

@Darlinfan Not copyright law, people complaining about the noise of the big wheels.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SPYH4KfK44zenfC1A

They were being way too blatant, and profiting/attracting customers based on Nintendo's IP (costumes) and idea (via mario kart game), so it would be surprising if Nintendo lost

Thank the lord.

Japanese American here.
I researched about this topic in Japanese, and I have to say, Nintendo is totally in the right to do this...
Although it may not seem like it, this company was tarnishing Mario Kart's reputation, since most people who saw the go carts thought it was dangerous... It was popular among tourists, but mostly hated by locals...
Even if Nintendo lost this case, it was important for them to sue, to not be associated with them, since some people seriously thought this was a legitimate Nintendo thing...

What about outside of Tokyo? When I visited Japan last year, we saw Mario Kart groups in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Kanazawa.

They were everywhere. It was always really cool to see!

As far as we could tell, a Japanese license was required, so I’m bummed to see all this info about “tourists loving it.” I wish I knew how I could have done a Mario Kart tour.

Good win for Nintendo.

omg Nintendo, it's flattery. Were you looking to offer street-going Mario karts? no.

Been a resident of Tokyo for 5 years, I'm glad to see Nintendo win this. The kart company has a bad image with locals, you often see them getting in the way of traffic lights and intersections as they travel in a long line and there are also frequent fender bender with tourists hitting other cars while trying to take selfies while driving. The average citizen may assume this an officially sponsored Nintendo activity and when bad things happen are likely to think poorly of Nintendo for it, despite them having nothing to do with it.

@DrLockdown
Is that because they’d be in disguise?

Good riddance. I’m very glad Nintendo won and not because I think they’re in their right to protect their IP (which they are) but because the people driving those karts were a huge nuisance and a real danger.

It might look cool from a tourist perspective, but in truth it was horrible for anyone living there and suffering that.

Has anyone seen the mario pizza shops? They are called Mario’s. One in my area has mario in the window. Does Nintendo secretly own pizza shops?

Good thing. Those things are a menace.

It says they have to 'immediately stop wearing Mario-themed outfits' by which I assume they mean providing them.
If the ruling only extends to the costumes, could they continue just without those? What if the customer wears their own?

Not getting into the safety/annoyance issues, just in regards to IP.

It's free advertising.
It looks like companies don't even want free advertising by now.

@AlexSora89 Why can't Nintendo just let fans take Nintendo's unused IPs like Mario Kart and do something with them that Nintendo is unwilling to do? The fans are only doing it for the love of the series and money but the second part isn't the important part to worry about, a person has got to eat.

@Smash_kirby
They could simply have bought them up and turn "MariCar" into "Mario Kart Real". Hopefully the upcoming Nintendo-themed, er, theme park is going to have a Mario Kart ride.

@AlexSora89 I don't think Nintendo wants there to be accidents with their name in the news being mentioned. I pretty sure there is.

@Smash_kirby
If they bought the business out, they'd relegate the kart-racing to a closed circuit. But sure, I guess in the end a lawsuit was the easier solution.

Saw them in June, was planning for my next visit, I knew the lawsuit was hovering, but that started years ago.

Shame.

@AlexSora89 I'm pretty sure the company wasn't interested in buying up the company especially since if there were bad things that were done before Nintendo took them over, Nintendo could be held liable.

@Fandabidozi
...real funny...

@sandman89 Is that in Brooklyn by chance? I haven't been over there in awhile but i remember a bar/ pizza shop that was heavily decorated in an 8 bit Mario style and they sold awesome mini pizzas for a dollar or two. Can't remember if it was called Mario's or not.

@mazz nah I’m in England. Cumbria.

@Smash_kirby
Doesn't the difference of dates between earlier incidents and buyout matter legally?

so what if I show up in my own Mario or Yoshi costume...? was the lawsuit due to the company providing the suits?

@imgrowinglegs You don't need a Japanese license. At the most you need a international drivers permit (essentially a $15 translation from AAA if you are American) but people have told me Maricar doesn't even require that in practice. The customers are nearly all non-residents of Japan.

I was lucky enough to drive with MariCar Osaka in August, was a fantastic and novel way of sightseeing.

@kepsux I think the person we spoke to made it sound a lot more involved than that. I should have done further research!

@Deadlyblack

Sounds like fun.

XD

@kepsux

Well if they are causing traffic hazards, I can understand.

These people would probably have done better just to make a small racetrack or something.

I wonder if they are going to start suing everyone on Hollywood Boulevard who dresses up as some famous character now.