Nintendo Sues Company Over ‘Real-Life Mario Kart’ Street Racing Attraction In Tokyo
by Joseph Russo, Jr.
Mario Kart Tour (Image: Nintendo)
A company in Tokyo that was once named Mari Mobility is being sued by Nintendo. Mari Mobility gave users an experience to try out “Mario Kart in real life,” which included using the likeliness of Mario Kart’s characters and vehicles.
Strange ! a mario kart on street #japan #crazy #tokyo pic.twitter.com/OQtVtHhPgT
— Japan in a Mug (@japaninamug) June 16, 2016
Nintendo announced in a statement out of their HQ last week, stating in Japanese that “we will continue to take necessary measures against infringement of intellectual property, including our brand, in order to protect our important intellectual property, which we have built up over many years’ efforts.”
The tourists in the popular YouTube video above show the awesomeness that comes with racing around in a go-kart through the streets of Japan. Pedestrians on motorcycles even go as far as to smile and wave at the Mario-themed racers. The group even gets stuck in Tokyo traffic, a few times.
Before the lawsuit initiated by Nintendo, Mari Mobility allowed players to rent ‘Mario’ themed costumes, where they even uploaded the images to their website. Nintendo originally was awarded 10 million yen, ($92,000) but after a losing appeal from Mari Mobility, they were awarded a new total of 50 million yen, which is approximately $460,000.
Tokyo District Court ordered Mari Mobility Dev., previously MariCar, to pay ¥10 million in compensation and stop using Nintendo-related outfit. The street go-cart company operates services in Japan, and Nintendo was complaining it was damaging its “Mario Kart” franchise.
— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) September 27, 2018
After the lawsuit was finished and settled, the losing company had to rebrand itself entirely to separate itself from Nintendo, and any of their intellectual properties. Today, the company is known as Street Kart Tokyo Bay.
The company’s website has a disclaimer that pops up upon opening the website in the browser. It stats, “We at Street Kart is providing our service as usual. Street Kart is fully complied through local governing laws in Japan. Street Kart is in no way a reflection of Nintendo, the game ‘Mario Kart’. (We do not provide rental of costumes of Mario Series.) , ” which fully separates them from Nintendo.
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