{"id":123772,"date":"2022-04-10T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-10T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-129486"},"modified":"2022-04-10T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-10T09:00:00","slug":"random-heres-why-nintendo-doesnt-want-you-using-the-word-nintendo-to-describe-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/04\/10\/random-heres-why-nintendo-doesnt-want-you-using-the-word-nintendo-to-describe-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Random: Here&#8217;s Why Nintendo Doesn\u2019t Want You Using The Word &#8220;Nintendo&#8221; To Describe Video Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/e9755c95c5584\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/e9755c95c5584\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<figure class=\"youtube\" data-videoid=\"IR3dLXWGitk\">[embedded content]<figcaption class=\"youtube-sub\">Subscribe to <a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/subscription_center?add_user=nintendolife\">Nintendo Life<\/a> on <span class=\"g-ytsubscribe\" data-channel=\"nintendolife\" data-layout=\"default\" data-count=\"default\"><a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/nintendolife\">YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>If you\u2019ve trundled around the internet for as long as we have, you may have come across a 1990 store poster from Nintendo, correcting its users on how to use the word &#8220;Nintendo&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>While this ad may come across as Mario lecturing your grandmother with a lesson in grammar, when this image first hit the internets it was just passed off as Nintendo\u2019s usual pomposity; a company arrogantly telling its fan base what they can and can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n<p>it does however, have a rather more <em>personal<\/em> reason for existing.<\/p>\n<p>Now, one might think, <em>\u201cSurely calling everything \u201cNintendo\u201d would be highly beneficial for the Big N? It\u2019s free advertising and muscles out the competition\u201d.<\/em> And, yes, while it would more profitable to blitz out rival products, in the world of trademark law, it\u2019s quite literally the <em>worst<\/em> possible thing that can happen to a company.<\/p>\n<p>You see, to receive a trademark for your product, service or company, it has to be a <em>highly<\/em> specific word, or words to describe it. For instance, you could never trademark the term \u201cvideo game\u201d as it\u2019s not only an incredibly broad term to begin with, but it\u2019s also part of the public lexicon; a phrase that everyone uses to describe the medium.<\/p>\n<p>This all stems from the 1946 US Fritz G. Lanham Trademark Act, where section 15 contains the clause:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>(4) no incontestable right shall be acquired in a mark which is the generic name for the goods or services or a portion thereof, for which it is registered.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Which in other words means, as long as your trademark is unique, and <em>remains<\/em> unique, you\u2019re golden!<\/p>\n<p>However, unfortunately for businesses, the English language is one that <em>constantly<\/em> evolves and expands. Even in the past twenty years, multiple product names have become part of the lexicon. When you use a vacuum cleaner, do you call it a &#8220;Hoover&#8221;? Do you use &#8220;Cello-tape&#8221; or &#8220;sticky tape&#8221;? How often have you looked at an image you suspect is fake online and said \u201cThat Looks Photoshopped\u201d, or when asking to search for information, to \u201cGoogle it\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>And like Nintendo, both Adobe and Google have made public requests asking their users to alter their phrasing, fearing the same loss.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"No such thing as a Nintendo\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/16326a1099812\/no-such-thing-as-a-nintendo.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgMTE3NiI+PC9zdmc+\" width=\"900\" height=\"1176\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/16326a1099812\/no-such-thing-as-a-nintendo.900x.jpg\" alt=\"No such thing as a Nintendo\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em>Image: Nintendo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So, when a Trademarked word <em>does<\/em> become part of the public lexicon, it\u2019s then regarded as being \u201cGenericized\u201d; in other words, an adjective becomes a noun. And when <em>that<\/em> happens, its usage can be legally challenged by <em>anyone<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, as recently as 2019, Apple lost the rights to trademark the term \u201cApp\u201d and \u201cApp Store\u201d after being challenged by Amazon in court so they could use the phrases on their range of tablets.<\/p>\n<p>Even huge brands such as Coca-Cola are currently on shaky ground to lose their trademark of Coke, as a huge majority of people will request &#8220;Coke&#8221; at a restaurant, even though they\u2019re asking for <em>any<\/em> cola drink, not specifically Coca Cola\u2019s. It\u2019s something the lexicon has evolved into describing the beverage, no matter how many times your waiter responds: <em>\u201c\u2026Will Pepsi do?\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>So, with such a trademark potentially falling into the public domain back then, Sega could have legally called their console: The &#8220;Nintendo Saturn&#8221;, or Sony could have called their console: The Nintendo Play Station <em>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2015\/07\/prototype_snes_playstation_found_in_the_wild_unicorn_and_big_foot_expected_next\">Well\u2026 Yeah<\/a>)<\/em> but, you get the point.<\/p>\n<p>However, from suing everyone from Blockbuster from renting their titles, to companies that produced their own cartridges\u2026 losing the trademark to \u201cNintendo\u201d is what the company literally feared the most from their market dominance back in 1990.<\/p>\n<p>Long story short, if you don\u2019t want everything in gaming to be branded as \u201cNintendo\u201d in the future, whether the company made it or not. Next time your Gran asks if you\u2019re playing as <strong>Halo<\/strong> on one of your Nintendo, be sure to correct her adjectives (or encourage her if you\u2019re a rather vindictive Sony or Xbox fan!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embedded content]Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube If you\u2019ve trundled around the internet for as long as we have, you may have come across a 1990 store poster from Nintendo, correcting its users on how to use the word &#8220;Nintendo&#8221;. While this ad may come across as Mario lecturing your grandmother with a lesson in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}