Nintendo set for copyright battle over 'WaraWara Plaza' - Polidicks

[quote="Edge"] Restaurant chain operator Monteroza has filed a copyright claim against Nintendo, Japanese media reported yesterday. Monteroza says that Wii U’s WaraWara Hiroba, known as WaraWara Plaza in the west, is too similar to that of its Wara-wara chain of izakaya (Japanese-style pubs). It has filed a request with the Patent Office to have Nintendo’s trademark registration revoked. Kyodo News and other outlets report that Monteroza filed its claim on 22 March. The company operates some 300 restaurants in Japan and around Asia, and is reportedly undertaking similar claims against Nintendo in several other countries, including around Europe and America. Nintendo insists that it registered the trademark without issue from the Patent Office and that it was unaware of the izakaya chain. The two write the word “warawara” – a common phrase that means “laugh laugh” – in different ways. Nintendo uses hiragana, the most basic Japanese phonetic alphabet, while Monteroza spells it with two of the kanji (Chinese characters) for the word “laugh”. Monteroza has reportedly also accused Nintendo of decreasing the brand value of its chain, hijacking its shared demographic of customers and piggybacking on its positive image.[/quote] [url="http://www.edge-online.com/news/copyright-claim-filed-against-nintendo-over-warawara-plaza/?"]Source[/url]. How does a gaming company devalue a pub chain?

[quote]Nintendo insists that [B]it registered the trademark without issue from the Patent Office and that it was unaware of the izakaya chain[/B]. The two write the word “warawara” – a common phrase that means “laugh laugh” – in different ways. Nintendo uses hiragana, the most basic Japanese phonetic alphabet, while Monteroza spells it with two of the kanji (Chinese characters) for the word “laugh”.[/quote] Yeah the restaurant can probably go get fucked. If there was a problem, the office wouldn't award them the trademark in the first place. Plus there's the different way it's spelled and shit. IP rights trolling, nothing more.

[QUOTE=Fangz;40490789]How does a gaming company devalue a pub chain?[/QUOTE] "Oh gee it's called Wara-Wara, must be linked to Nintendo and they're a bunch of casuals. I don't associate with casuals!!!"

[QUOTE=BackSapper;40491034]"Oh gee it's called Wara-Wara, must be linked to Nintendo and they're a bunch of casuals. I don't associate with casuals!!!"[/QUOTE] I only eat hardcore.

[QUOTE=mark6789;40491136]I only eat hardcore.[/QUOTE] I prefer to eat at restaurants where I'm always in line.

[QUOTE=Last or First;40491610]I prefer to eat at restaurants where I'm always in line.[/QUOTE] I prefer to eat the restaurants :(

[QUOTE=mark6789;40491136]I only eat hardcore.[/QUOTE] 360 no fork.

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;40492921]360 no fork.[/QUOTE] knife only

[QUOTE=DiCiSpitfire;40493221]knife only[/QUOTE] No knives, spork only, warawara plaza.

I find this rather interesting, because how does copyright work in a language with multiple alphabets? Because with English we don't get the full picture: Restaurants warawara: 笑笑 Nintendo's warawara: わらわら They're read the same and have the same meaning but by just looking at the two you can see that they are different, so I'm really curious to how this will affect the case.