A family-owned supermarket in San Ramon, Costa Rica, has emerged victorious in its legal contest with Japanese gaming giant, Nintendo, relating to the store’s name, Super Mario. The supermarket had been using the name for a number of years and subsequently registered a trade mark for its ‘Super Mario’ name in 2013.
The store has become increasingly popular on social media since then, now boasting over 78,000 followers on Facebook. Its growing popularity seemingly brought it to the attention of Nintendo, and its lawyers, who accused the supermarket of infringing Nintendo’s own ‘Super Mario’ trade marks and sought the cancellation of the allegedly infringing mark.
The matter was ultimately heard by the Costa Rican Intellectual Property Registry, which decided there was no infringement on the basis the goods Nintendo’s trade marks were registered for did not extend to the sale of groceries and therefore there was no similarity of goods between the marks. Consequently, the supermarket’s Super Mario mark was upheld and the store can continue to trade under the Super Mario name.
In a celebratory Facebook post, Carlos “Charlito” Alfaro, son of supermarket owner Don Jose Mario Alfaro Gonzalez (the eponymous ‘Super Mario’), said of the ordeal, “For a moment we thought about throwing in the towel… How were we going to win against such a commercial monster? Especially with the number of legal documents presented by them to ensure victory. Well, luckily Edgardo and I stood firm and a few days ago we received the good news”. He also added “Super Mario is here to stay”.
If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
