2023.05.10

MARIO KART (Nintendo) vs MariCar

Nintendo won a lawsuit against Kabushiki Kaisha MariCar, which had used the trademark “MariCar”. The IP High Court deemed “MariCar” to be similar to Nintendo’s trademark “MARIO KART”.

1. Conclusion

The Tokyo District Court did not accept infringement on foreign language websites, but The IP High Court did.  The basis for this is Articles 2-1-1 and 2-1-2 of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

2. Summary

The Tokyo District Court did not recognize infringement on foreign language websites, as they considered “MariCar” to be not well-known among foreigners.  In contrast, The IP High Court deemed Nintendo’s “MARIO KART” to be famous and accepted the similarity between “MARIO KART” and the defendant’s trademark “MariCar.”  Additionally, it was deemed difficult to recognize the elimination of confusion even with a disclaimer.

3. My comments

The difference in judgment between the Tokyo District Court and The IP High Court lies in whether they recognized the use of foreign language websites as unfair competition.  “MariCar” is well-known within Japan but not among foreigners.  The IP High Court recognized the use of foreign language websites as unfair competition by comparing “MARIO KART” with the defendant’s trademark.