Kenichi Sugimoto, a spokesman for Nintendo, said that it had previously warned
MariCar about using its characters but “did not receive a good-faith answer.”
MariCar said in a statement that it had discussed its services with Nintendo and consulted with legal experts who judged
that its business model would not violate Nintendo’s copyright.
Nintendo said in a lawsuit filed in a Tokyo court on Friday that a company called MariCar was offering Mario Kart-style rides without its permission.
It added that traffic related to the lawsuit had overwhelmed its website
and communications systems, which it said resulted in an unspecified number of real-life Mario and Luigi wannabes getting temporarily lost in the streets
A legal dispute in Japan is threatening to shut down a business providing go-kart rides on vehicles
that look a lot like those from the video game franchise that inspired untold bouts of hand cramping.
MariCar offers its customers the ability to whiz through Tokyo’s streets dressed as Mario, Luigi or others from the Mushroom Kingdom.
