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You might be known as one of the friendliest faces in gaming, but Nintendo is trending online these days for all the wrong reasons. The company is facing a fierce backlash after it emerged that it had blocked the sale of a Nintendo Switch accessory designed to raise money for a mental health charity.
Content creator Alex Blake created a pair of Joy-Con controller skins (below) in memory of YouTuber Desmond “Etika” Amofah, a “legend in the Nintendo community” who took his own life in 2019. But Blake has revealed Since then he has received a cease and desist letter from Nintendo itself.
The Joy-Cons (above) feature a black and white design, along with the Etika logo and the JoyConBoyz logo, the name of the Etika gaming community. Nicknamed Etikons, the accessories were designed as “a way to honor his legacy while putting a durable product in the hands of his fans.”
Of each commitment on Indiegogo, 25% percent would be taken as production fee, while 65% It was donated to the JED Foundation, a non-profit organization that “protects the emotional health and prevents suicide of our nation’s teens and young adults.”
The first campaign was unsuccessful. The second campaign was successful. The remaining stock of Joycons were for sale on my Etsy from last year. Nintendo sent me a cease and desist at the end of September. Here’s a photo of me with a container of all the shells that I can’t sell anymore pic.twitter.com/ytdWzObh9xDecember 7, 2020
But just a month after the campaign was created, Blake revealed on Twitter (above) a screenshot of the letter he received from Nintendo, along with a photo of himself with the Joy-Cons that he is now unable to sell. “Your false association with the Nintendo brand violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights,” the notice reads, before demanding that Blake cease all marketing, production and sale of the custom Joy-Cons.
The move has drawn a lot of criticism on Twitter. Nintendo itself is now a trend on the platform, with more than 180,000 tweets:
Every day it is more and more difficult to support Nintendo. #FreeSplatoon #FreeMelee pic.twitter.com/TB8MiuZDCyDecember 7, 2020
Nintendo issued a cease and desist from stopping production of Etikons. The sales of these help the charity JED Foundation and honor the memory of YouTuber “Etika” who died in June 2019. Mental health is so important, I really hope Nintendo will reconsider. # NintendoSwitch # GamingNews pic.twitter.com/1re552ZeEYDecember 7, 2020
It’s so puzzling that Nintendo will turn a blind eye to many, many custom shell designers for Joycon and other controllers, but it will be C&D who are raising money for charity under the Etika name. It threatens the fair work of those artists and I do not agree with that. pic.twitter.com/tgnsYQCiWZDecember 7, 2020
Damn Nintendo, you have no soul. pic.twitter.com/LYnDns1pTEDecember 7, 2020
Blake went on to explain that, rather than shutting down the project entirely, Nintendo objected to the use of the Joy-Con name and symbol as part of the JoyConBoyz logo. Blake says the design will be modified, but they were left with hundreds of Joy-Cons that can no longer be sold.
This is by no means the first logo-based trademark dispute we’ve seen in 2020. From the Nirvana and Marc Jacobs smiley face battle to the road rage between Citroën and Polestar, there have been many examples of a small symbol that causes big problems. If you are looking to create a design that definitely You won’t be confused with anything else, our logo design guide is the best place to start.
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