Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.
| Universal v. Nintendo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | United States District Court for the Southern District of New York |
| Full case name | Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. |
| Decided | 1984 |
| Citation(s) | 746 F.2d 112 |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Robert W. Sweet |
Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. was a case heard by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by Judge Robert W. Sweet. In their complaint, Universal Studios alleged that Nintendo's video game Donkey Kong was a trademark infringement of King Kong, the plot and characters of which Universal claimed as their own. Nintendo argued that Universal had themselves proved that King Kong's plot and characters were in the public domain in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. RKO General, Inc.
Sweet ruled that Universal had acted in bad faith by threatening Nintendo's licensees and that it had no right over the name King Kong or the characters and story. He further held that there was no possibility for consumers to confuse Nintendo's game and characters with the King Kong films and their characters. Universal appealed the case, but the verdict was upheld.
The case was a victory for Nintendo, which was still a newcomer to the U.S. market. The case established Nintendo as a major player in the industry and arguably gave the company the confidence that it could compete with the giants of American media. The case was selected as number 20 on GameSpy's list of the "25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming".
In 1982, Sid Sheinberg, the president of MCA and Universal City Studios and a seasoned attorney, was trying to find a way to get his company into the booming video game market. In April, he learned of the success of Nintendo's Donkey Kong video game and sent Robert Hadl, vice president of legislative matters, to investigate. Hadl's analysis was that Donkey Kong's storyline was based on that of King Kong and was thus an infringement of Universal's rights to that film's characters and scenario.
...
Wikipedia