Nintendo—a company that's famously litigious when it comes to muscling down on fan projects, emulators, and sometimes just straight-up other games—took one to the chin recently after a supermarket in Costa Rica, named "Super Mario" after its owner Don José Mario Alfaro González, won a legal battle to keep its branding.
As posted to the supermarket's Facebook page (via Eurogamer) by Mario's son, Carlos "Charlito" Alfaro, Nintendo reportedly "claimed that Super Mario belongs to them globally" when the supermarket attempted to file for a renewal on its trademarked name.
The supermarket itself was, according to the page, founded around 52 years ago by Don Mario—however, it hadn't registered itself as a brand until 2013, when Alfaro returned from university. Outside of the legal system of registering brands and trademarks, that'd put the supermarket's creation at around 12 years before the first Super Mario Bros. game released in 1985. It even predates Mario's first appearance as "Jumpman" in the Donkey Kong arcade game, released in 1981.
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Thankfully, the Costa Rican National Register upheld the store's rights to the name—apparently due to a blind spot in the corporation's trademark registry: "They have a lot of categories listed, video games, clothing, collectibles, toys, school supplies, ornaments, etc. But not the sale of groceries, and that's why the National Register [ruled] in our favor."
Alfaro states that Nintendo's sheer legal weight almost made them reconsider the move, though: "For a moment we thought about throwing in the towel, how were we going to win [against] such a commercial monster? [Even moreso with] the amount of legal documents submitted by them to ensure the victory. Well, by that [my lawyer] and I stood firm and a few days ago we received the good news."
This kind of financial pressure isn't a rarity for these sorts of lawsuits. Palworld, for example, is apparently only being charged around $66,000 by Nintendo's suits—actually challenging them, according to a lawyer we spoke to back in November of last year, can cost millions of dollars.
A later video, posted to the page, sees Alfaro proudly pointing towards his father and stating: "He is Don Mario, he is my dad, [he's been here] for 52 years, and he is the founder of Super Mario."
Honestly, I'm personally a little chuffed to see Nintendo getting told to shove off—its actions have been overbearing for some time now, but trying to muscle in on a 52-year old business still feels beyond the pale. It's a small win for the little guy, but a win nonetheless.
