Can Nintendo sue / DMCA me if I use the name "Rainbow Road?"

Help and Feedback Game Design Support
#1

Greetings! I am working on my racing game, and I really like Rainbow Road in the MarioKart series. I was thinking, what if I created my own version? So can I use the name Rainbow Road as long as I do not copy a Rainbow Road track exactly?

Thanks in advance!

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#2

Not sure,but i would name it something else just in case.

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#3

I wouldn’t try it, nintendo is ruthless in the copyright field. I suggest naming it something similar like “Radiant Road”

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#4

:joy::joy::joy:
Rainbow Highway it is

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#5

Nah bro it should be rainbow street. It’s closer to the name rainbow road. Or it could be rainbow raceway, or rainbow superspeedway. If nintendo Dmca’s you, they’re just jealous that your game is going to be good.

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#6

Nintendo has a very long history of suing people for even small similarities between their games, with that being said though…

here’s some name ideas for a colorful racetrack:

Prism Parkway,
Patched Pavement,
Arc Avenue,
Cresent Course,
Variegation Viaduct,
Polychromatic Pike,
Unicorn Underpass,
Spectrum Street,
Fantasy Fareway

I came up with all these on my own :smiley:

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#7

Consulting the DevForum for legal advice like this is not a good idea, you should speak to a real legal practitioner regarding this. There’ll be too much subjectivity or even lack of understanding in the answers provided that it won’t provide a good information source for you.

Alternatively you could try and look into the copyright situation of Nintendo assets and see if your use of them falls within their allowed usage policy.

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#8

Probably not if it was in the context of not being a racing game I’m sure it would be fine

#9

might help:

image
image705Ă—121 49.9 KB

another result:

image

okay i cant find anything else, tldr you probably shouldnt risk it and just make something unique

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#10

I recommend looking at Trademark or Copyright registers to find your answer. Although, even if the term “Rainbow Road” is copyrighted/trademarked, if it is considered fair use then it would allow you to continue usage of the copyrighted term without punishment.

You should also look into practices from the company, as the respective owner of a trademark might allow others to use it under certain conditions, or might not even pursue people for infringing copyright on the term unless they are directly affecting the business (e.g. taking profits away.)

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#11

Few Things I want to mention

  1. Your literally remaking a game thats named “Rainbow Road” AND basing it off MarioKart
  2. You should probably look up Trademarks or Copyright Registers to find your answer.
  3. I don’t think its even able to be registered, since it’s probably used often on sites on and off the roblox platform for games.

I think you should change the name, since having the same idea can lead to actual DMCA by Nintendo. I’m also not a Lawyer, I just know a bit about copyright. Just don’t directly copy the actual game unless if its a collab. Also look at @CleverSource’s Response, it makes a lot of sense : )