Super Mario: Costa Rican supermarket wins trademark dispute against Nintendo

Don José Mario Alfaro González, known as Mario, operates a supermarket in San Ramón, Costa Rica, called ‘Super Mario.’ According to the supermarket’s Facebook page, González founded the store in 1973—years before Nintendo’s red-capped video game protagonist first appeared in ‘Donkey Kong’ or the release of the first ‘Super Mario Bros.’ game.

The grocery store’s logo features a yellow and dark blue design with a shopping cart and the wording “Super Mario – Su lugar de confianza,” which translates to “Super Mario – Your Trusted Place.”
The supermarket’s building is white with yellow and dark blue stripes, and employees wear shirts in the same colors. Apart from the ‘Super Mario’ wording, there is no reference to Nintendo.

In December 2013, at the urging of his son, González applied to register his SUPER MARIO trademark in Costa Rica, using a yellow and blue design without the shopping cart or the “Su lugar de confianza” wording. The application covered supermarket services under Class 35 and was granted without objection from Nintendo. González also applied to register his logo as a trade name for use in connection with supermarket services. That registration was also granted without objection and is valid as long as the store is open.
In March 2024, González’s son filed to renew the trademark registration. This time, Nintendo objected. According to a Facebook post by González’s son, the objection stemmed from the growing attention the supermarket was receiving on social media.
Nintendo holds a Costa Rican trademark registration for SUPER MARIO covering video games (Class 9), bags (Class 18), clothing (Class 25), and toys and games (Class 28).

Nintendo argued that its SUPER MARIO mark is famous in Costa Rica and that González acted in bad faith because he:
Sold more than basic grocery products and used that classification to obscure the imitation.
Posted images of Nintendo’s Mario character on Facebook to promote the supermarket.
Stocked products featuring Super Mario characters, indicating prior knowledge of Nintendo’s SUPER MARIO mark.