Nintendo has a reputation for aggressively protecting its intellectual property, acting swiftly totake down fan projects likePokemon Uraniumand theSuper Mario Bros.battle royale game. Now Nintendo has apparently targeted TikTok star pokeprincxss, forcing the popular user to completely re-brand her online identity and hand over money she’s made on merchandising.
Pokeprincxss has 1.9 million TikTok followers at the time of this writing, and she also has an extensive following on Twitch. However, she can no longer go by the name pokeprincxss, and is now known online as digitalprincxss instead. In a recent YouTube video, theTikTokstar formerly known as pokeprincxss explained the situation, revealing why Nintendo sued her and forced her to re-brand.
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The pokeprincxss name is directly inspired byNintendo’sPokemonfranchise, with the content creator now known as digitalprincxss also covered in tattoos of various Pokemon. Capitalizing on her TikTok fame, pokeprincxss began selling merchandise based on her online identity, like many popular creators on the app do, and she also trademarked her username through the LegalZoom website.
Please note that the following video has some offensive language.
With the pokeprincxss name clearly inspired by thePokemonfranchise, pokeprincxss created merchandise that featuredPokemonimagery, likePokeballs, for instance. “I was young and dumb and I was just going full force with it because I didn’t know what I was doing was wrong,” she explained. Pokeprincxss believed that using thePokemonimagery was fair use as it would fall under parody, and she saw many other people sellingPokemoncontent, like fan art, online.
But then two months ago, pokeprincxss received an email from LegalZoom explaining that she had been issued a cease and desist by Nintendo. It seems Nintendo did not want people to think that she was affiliated with the company, as pokeprincxss also works in the adult entertainment industry. As one might imagine, this greatly conflicts with Nintendo’s family-friendly image.
Pokeprincxss hired a lawyer who helped her resolve the issue with Nintendo as well as assist her in the re-branding process. Some fans asked why she couldn’t just change the spelling to “poki” or something similar, but she explained that having anything that even looked like it could be related toPokemonin her name could get her in more legal trouble with Nintendo. She also noted that she was unsure why there were some people with “poki” in their name that make money from it and don’t get in trouble, perhaps referring topopular Twitch streamer Pokimane, though that wasn’t specified.
Pokeprincxss believes that she may have gotten Nintendo’s attention because of her work in the adult entertainment industry, the trademark she filed for the name, and for selling merchandise withPokemonimagery. Ultimately, she had to pay Nintendo all of the money she made from merchandise sales, and is now going by digitalprincxss online.
Some fans have pointed out that digitalprincxss could see her get in trouble because some may associate it withPokemonrivalDigimon. But according to her Twitter, she is confident that she will avoid any legal trouble withDigimonas none of her content or her brand has anything to do with theDigimonfranchise.
Pokeprincxss stresses at the end of her video that she has no hard feelings forNintendo. While it is upsetting to her that she was sued by a company that was such a big part of her childhood, she insists that she will continue supporting Nintendo. “I’ll give my soul to Nintendo. After watching this video, go buy a Switch or something.”
