Nintendo has reportedly just lost a legal battle in which it tried to stop a tiny Costa Rican supermarket from using its trademarked name, Super Mario. A global heavyweight like Nintendo is no stranger to throwing its legal weight against anyone who infringes on its copyright – from misusing a character's likeness to copycat logos. And, let's be honest, it's usually it's the big company that wins out in these situations.
But this time, it's three cheers for the little guy, which has successfully protected its right to use the name it has been trading under for a whopping 52 years.
According to a Facebook post from the owner's son on Eurogamer (see below), the event was triggered when the owner, Mario (hence the name) and son Carlos went to renew the supermarket's registration. Nintendo stepped in by trying to block the use of the name Super Mario.
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Carlos "Charlito" Alfaro explains above that Nintendo allegedly "claimed that Super Mario belongs to them globally" even though it appears that the supermarket has been using the name for 12 years longer than the video game maker (though the supermarket brand was only registered in 2013.)
The saving grace for the supermarket is a technicality in the trademark wording – Nintendo's registration covers a whole host of categories, but doesn't cover the sale of groceries. Hurrah!
This is one of the most heart-warming ends to a legal tale I've seen – and one of those that makes me wonder about the motivations behind the actions of corporate lawyers. Quite why it would harm Nintendo to have a small Costa Rican supermarket with the same name as one of its characters is beyond me – I can see much more of a problem with confusing logo infringements, like the one with Marc Jacobs and Nirvana than a naming issue like this. But I also suppose the line has to be drawn somewhere.
