Nintendo is seemingly prepped and ready to launch its new Switch 2 console next month. The company is now focusing its efforts on getting back at the brands that contributed to all the major console leaks in early January this year.
If you can recall, back at CES 2025, various companies showed off a mock of the Switch 2 console at their stands during the convention. While the console was just a dummy and not an actual functioning device, the leaks reportedly made Nintendo quite furious.
Some internal reports from Nintendo claimed that the company was extremely angry about the leaks and that these accessory brands openly showed off 3D printed models of the Switch 2 while trying to gain popularity for their products.
Nintendo is now taking legal action. The company has now filed five cases against Genki over the leaks. They span from copyright infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising. Nintendo claims what Genki did by having a 3D printed Switch 2 at CES was violate multiple laws including the Trademark Act of 1946.
Nintendo is also saying that by Genki using the Nintendo trademark during the leaks, the brand had caused confusion and is likely going to impute any shortcomings, defects, or lack of quality in Genki’s products to Nintendo.
While the full scope of Nintendo’s demands aren’t clear yet, the papers say that the company wants Genki to stop selling products marketed with Nintendo’s trademarks and for compensation for any damages as a result of the leaks.
Nintendo says that Genki has yet to prove whether or not the accessories it showed off at CES were based on official prototype builds of the Switch 2 and whether the brand had access to the console itself. Either way, it seems that Nintendo is trying to prove that Genki wasn’t allowed to share accessories for a console owned by the company before they were legally able to.
Genki has since responded to the lawsuit. The brand says it will continue to prepare its shipping allocations for these Switch 2 accessories while the lawsuits commence.
You may have seen that Nintendo recently filed a lawsuit against us. We’re taking it seriously and working with legal counsel to respond thoughtfully.
What we can say is this: Genki has always been an independent company focused on building innovative gaming accessories for the community we love. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and we stand by the quality and originality of our products.
While we can’t comment in detail, we’re continuing preparations to fulfill orders and showcase our newest products at PAX East this week.
We’re grateful for the overwhelming support we’ve received so far. We’ll share more when we can, but for now, we’re staying focused on doing what we do best: building gear for gamers. —Team Genki
Keep in mind that Genki isn’t the only brand that leaked Switch 2 stuff prior to the console’s reveal. It is unclear whether or not Nintendo is going to go after other accessory makers at this stage.
