Oh No, Mario: Nintendo Sues to Get Mario Karts Off Tokyo Streets
- Nintendo claims go-kart operator unfairly uses Mario’s image
- Defendant MariCar says its services are within legal bounds
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Nintendo Co. is taking the fight to protect its intellectual property to the streets.
The Kyoto-based games giant on Friday filed a lawsuit against MariCar Inc., a Tokyo-based company which lets customers dress-up as Nintendo characters like Super Mario and Luigi, sticks them in go-carts and leads them on driven tours through the street of Japan’s capital. MariCar is among a handful of companies offering the services popular mostly with tourists, and their impromptu cavalcades have in years past become a common sight in Tokyo’s neighborhoods like Shibuya and Harajuku.