Nintendo Sues Costa Rican Store Named “Super Mario,” But Loses the Case
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Nintendo recently filed a lawsuit against a small store in San Ramon, Costa Rica, called Super Mario, attempting to force a name change. However, the store won the legal battle and will be able to keep its name.
Despite submitting hundreds of documents to support its case, Nintendo was unsuccessful. The National Registry of Costa Rica rejected the request, ruling that Nintendo’s Super Mario trademark lacks a classification in Costa Rica. Because of this, the grocery store, which has used the name for decades, was not required to change it.
Nintendo Loses Lawsuit Against Store Named “Super Mario”
On a nice wholesome story: Nintendo has lost a legal battle against a small Costa Rican business over the "Super Mario" trademark
A local grocery store called "Super Mario" in San Ramón, Costa Rica was threatened by Nintendo that they could not keep using that name, even though… pic.twitter.com/JSHnAJJZbT
— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) January 28, 2025
In an interesting twist, a check of the intellectual property registry in Costa Rica revealed that the store itself now owns the trademark related to its yellow-and-black Super Mario logo.
Meanwhile, in Kyoto, a similar case has surfaced. A restaurant called “Mario Ramen” was reportedly set to open near Nintendo’s museum. However, some users on X (formerly Twitter) have reported that the shop’s logo has suddenly disappeared, suggesting that the business may have shut down before even opening its doors. Given Nintendo’s history of aggressively protecting its intellectual property, legal action may have caused this to happen.
Nintendo has been known to strongly defend its brands against unauthorized use. In October, the Ryujinx emulator was taken down after pressure from Nintendo’s lawyers. A few weeks before that, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sued Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, citing excessive similarities to Pokémon.
In other news, a leak from retailer Newegg hints at a new 3D Super Mario game and a Legend of Zelda remake launching this year. However, it’s unclear whether these titles will be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 or also available on the original Switch.
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