Nintendo asks Pokémon TCG shop in NYC to change name and branding after being hit by $100k USD robbery

After being the victim of a robbery for $100,000 USD worth of Pokémon cards, among other merchandise, owners of a Pokémon Trading Card Game shop in New York City have been asked to change their name and branding, which included Nintendo trademarks. The robbery, which occurred on January 14th of this year, apparently brought so much publicity to the shop that Nintendo took notice.

Previously named The Poké Court, the newly reopened shop in the Borough of Manhattan has rebranded its social media and website to The Trainer Court, and removed the Poké Ball design from their logo. “The short story is that Nintendo reached out to us with concerns about our name and logo,” stated the shop on their website.

The robbery last month occurred during the shop’s first major community event, when several suspects held more than 40 customers and employees at gunpoint while they smashed glass cases and stole cards. There has been an outpouring of support for the newly named Trainer Court, including well wishes, treats, and even job applications from all over the world. The Trainer Court has stated that they plan to continue holding community events. “We’re evaluating all security options but big picture, we don’t want this to stop us from gathering.”

The shop has not elaborated on the exact interaction with Nintendo, but are characterizing the rebrand as an evolution, touting “a new name for a new chapter.” Many small TCG shops across the US use Pokémon branding in their names and logos without incident; presumably, the international attention brought on by the severity of the robbery also garnered Nintendo’s scrutiny.

Nintendo as a whole, and especially Nintendo of America, have a reputation for being particularly litigious regarding the Pokémon brand; though they have the legal right to prevent the shop from using their trademarks, fans of The Trainer Court do not see the contact as friendly. “I figured once news broke of the robbery someone from Nintendo would be like how can we threaten a small business,” commented @rocker11220 on The Trainer Court’s Instagram.

Between their actions following the “teraleak,” which included information about the then-unreleased Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and the ongoing patent infringement lawsuit with Pocketpair, developers of Palworld, this incident is likely to compound Nintendo’s notoriety as being very protective of the Pokémon brand.

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Something bad and traumatic happens.
Everyone: oh no that's bad.
Nintendo: but what about our brand name!!!!!!

 

Something bad and traumatic happens.
Everyone: oh no that's bad.
Nintendo: but what about our brand name!!!!!!

yes, both of these can be true at the same time

 

yes, both of these can be true at the same time

Both of what? I wrote 3 sentences. They are all a summary of what happened and who said what, so they are all "true".

 

Honestly when I heard the news of the robbery, I was wondering how they were able to use Pokè in their name due to the strict copyright. So this isn't really a surprise.

I mean, it's bad the theft happend, but considering they're selling pokemon goods and not seafood bowls it's weird they didn't get struck much earlier.

 

Honestly when I heard the news of the robbery, I was wondering how they were able to use Pokè in their name due to the strict copyright. So this isn't really a surprise.

I mean, it's bad the theft happend, but considering they're selling pokemon goods and not seafood bowls it's weird they didn't get struck much earlier.

i would've thought the same thing tbh, but there's a local tcg shop near me that's called The HydroPump Pokeshop- it's probably pretty common. like they said in the article, it was probably the shop making international headlines that made nintendo go after them specifically. it being located in a major city like NYC probably didn't help either