Pokémon controversy: Difference between revisions

In 2001, Geller, along with Lichtenstein company Sambracal AG (who own the rights to Geller's name and likeness), sued Nintendo, arguing that the use of his likeness in Kadabra violated his rights under California's privacy laws. However, the judge ruled that as he was not a citizen or resident of the United States (he is a citizen of Israel and the United Kingdom who lived in the United Kingdom at the time), he was not eligible for protection under these privacy laws, so he could only sue under privacy laws in the United Kingdom, but no such laws existed that would protect him in this case; that part of the case was dismissed on August 16, 2001, but Geller continued to sue arguing that the cards violated the trademark rights to his own name. In November 2002, a judge dismissed Geller's trademark claims against Nintendo of America, ruling that there was insufficient evidence that Nintendo of America was involved in the distribution of Japanese language Kadabra cards in the United States (since only the Japanese language cards bore a similarity to Geller's name); since the Japanese language cards were only intended to be distributed in Japan, only Japanese trademark law could be applied, but Geller did not own a trademark on his name in Japan. On March 3, 2003, Geller's lawsuit was dismissed by the judge.<ref name="VICE"/>