Nintendo settles lawsuit against the company that leaked Switch 2 at CES

Prior to Nintendo's official announcement of the Switch 2 console, a company known as Genki caused quite a stir when it showed up to CES armed with dummy units of the console, dummy units that ended up being very accurate to the final product. As a result, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Genki, accusing the company of committing trademark infringement. Now, the two parties have settled. 

Nintendo had filed the lawsuit in the US District Court of California, targeting the parent company of accessory brand “Genki”, Human Things. The lawsuit alleged that Genki committed both trademark infringement and false advertising with its fake Switch 2 model at CES. Nintendo did not officially show the Switch 2 console until April 2025, four months after CES.

Rather than letting the case go to any kind of trial, the lawyers all worked things out and the lawsuit has been settled. Under the terms, Nintendo will be collecting a damages payment, and all subsidiaries of Human Things, including Genki, are banned from using any Nintendo logo or design, or even a similar design. If the company wants to continue selling Switch console accessories, then it must also clearly state that it is an unlicensed accessory manufacturer.

Marketing such accessories will be hard though, as Genki will be unable to use the terms “Nintendo”, “Switch”, “Switch 2”, or “Joy-Con”, in any of its branding. The settlement goes has far as to ban Genki from using any ‘core colour scheme' that Nintendo uses for the Switch. As reported by VGC, that list of colours includes red and white, red and blue, green and pink, blue and yellow, purple and orange, pink and yellow, and purple and green.

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KitGuru Says: It looks like Genki won't be in the Nintendo accessory market for much longer. Even if it continued to make products, this settlement agreement makes it nearly impossible to market such products. 

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