Opposition to the trademark "maricar" was not granted

Zen International Patents and Trademarks

As we mentioned in our blog posted on March 1, 2017, Nintendo sued Maricar Co. for copyright infringement and violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act in Japan.

Nintendo also had filed an opposition against a trademark "マリカー" in the name of Maricar Co.
The word "マリカー" is pronounced as "Maricar".

The reason for the opposition is that the word "マリカー" is widely known in Japan as indicating "Mario Kart".

But the Boad of Examiner did not grant the opposition and ruled that the registration should be retained.

The main reason is as follows;
Even if the "Mario Kart" is widly known in Japan as Nintendo's products, it is not recognized that the word "マリカー" is widely "NOT" known in Japan as indicating "Mario Kart".

source: YOMIURI ONLINE

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