Blue Shelled
Nintendo has won its ongoing lawsuit with Japanese company Mari Mobility over the latter’s enterprise “MariCar,” which offered tours of the streets of Tokyo in go-karts and costumes themed after the former’s popular racing franchise Mario Kart.
The MariCar franchise first fell afoul of Nintendo’s legal team in 2017, with the street-touring crew eventually ordered to pay Nintendo compensation to the tune of ¥10 million (roughly $97,000 USD) for the unauthorized use of its IP and concerns that safety issues could bring the Nintendo brand into disrepute.
Undaunted, the newly-retitled “Street Kart” simply slapped “Unrelated to Nintendo” stickers onto its go-karts before hitting the road once again, much to The Big N’s chagrin. Appeals from both parties to the Supreme Court of Japan have now been settled in Nintendo’s favor, resulting in Street Kart being hit with an even larger fine of ¥50 million (or a staggering $480,000 USD).
These legal troubles couldn’t have come at a worse time for Street Kart, who have been struggling to stay afloat in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite launching a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year to build capital, it would seem a forgone conclusion that these recent events could run the attraction off-road permanently.
Nintendo’s victory over MariCar finalized [Japan Today / Japanese Nintendo]
