By Sagar V. Mankar 
A small supermarket in Costa Rica, named Super Mario, recently made headlines after a legal battle with the video game giant, Nintendo. The controversy stemmed from Nintendo’s claim that the supermarket’s name violated copyright laws. The company, known for being aggressive with its intellectual property (IP) rights, has frequently used legal action to shut down anything it believes is using its IP without permission, including fan projects, emulators, and YouTube videos.
In a recent case, Super Mario, a grocery store that has been operating under that name for more than 50 years, found itself on Nintendo’s radar. Nintendo filed a lawsuit when the store’s owner, José “Mario” Alfaro González, attempted to register the store’s name as a trademark. Nintendo of America argued that “Super Mario” was a name exclusively linked to them, citing their famous video game franchise.
However, González and his legal team decided to stand their ground instead of changing the store’s name. They argued that the store’s owner had named the store after “himself”, and the business had been operating since 1973—long before Nintendo introduced the character Mario in 1985. Additionally, in Costa Rica, the word “super” is commonly used as a casual term for supermarkets, making “Super Mario” simply mean “Mario’s supermarket” in the local vernacular.
In a surprising turn of events, González and his legal team were successful in their defense. On January 21, they won the legal battle, allowing Super Mario to retain its name. Their victory was based on the argument that while Nintendo operates in several industries, including video games and entertainment, they do not sell food products on a wide enough scale to claim exclusive rights over the name “Super Mario” in the grocery business.
This victory is especially notable because many small businesses often fold under pressure from large corporations like Nintendo. In this case, however, Super Mario’s decision to fight back against the corporate giant proved to be the right move.
After the win, the store owner expressed his relief on Facebook, admitting he had considered giving up. “For a moment we thought about throwing in the towel, how were we going to beat such a commercial monster?” González wrote. He explained that Nintendo had registered trademarks for various categories, including video games, clothing, and toys, but not for grocery sales. This distinction ultimately led to the court ruling in their favor.
Source: Tico Times