While Nintendo is getting ready for the June 5 launch of the Switch 2, the company has also seemingly filed a lawsuit against parent company of accessory maker Genki, Human Things, in California. According to VGC, the lawsuit revolves around unfair competition, trademark infringement, and false advertising regarding its advertising of accessories for the at-the-time unannounced Switch 2.
With the lawsuit, Nintendo claims that it wants to recover “all damages it has sustained as a result of Defendant’s infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising, and that said damages be trebled.” If the company finds a favourable outcome from the lawsuit, Genki will have to destroy all Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 related products it has, as well as stop using the company’s trademarks moving forward.
According to Nintendo, moves by the accessory maker since back in December were “an apparent attempt to further confuse the public as to whether Genki had access to a Nintendo Switch 2 and/or an affiliation with Nintendo.” In its lawsuit, Nintendo has presented a timeline of actions by Genki, referred to as its “wrongdoing”, which include the official X account for Genki responding to a post by GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen, as well as other events, including the company’s presence at CES 2025 back in January.
Another example of Genki’s “wrongdoing”, according to Nintendo, was when CEO Edward Tsai “personally showed off the 3D-printed mockups and stated to different reporters that Genki had or had access to an authentic ‘Switch 2,’ on which Genki based the mockups, renderings, and 3D-printed mockups.” Nintendo has also said in its lawsuit that its lawyers had approached Genki during CES 2025 on the showfloor.
At CES 2025, Genki was present at the showfloor with a host of products that it was planning to launch when the Switch 2 was released. While Nintendo hadn’t yet confirmed the console or its details at the time, Genki had several accessories, including cases for the console itself, and even grips for what would eventually be revealed as the Joy-Con 2 controllers.
Through its accessories, Genki hinted that the Switch 2 was going to be larger than the original Switch. This would eventually be confirmed by Nintendo itself when it officially unveiled the new console towards the end of January. Accessories showcased by Genki also included a charging dock for controllers.
While Genki was believed to have its hands on a prototype of the Switch 2 at the time, the company later confirmed that all of its accessories were based on leaks about the console. In a statement in January, the company confirmed that it had not seen the console at the time, and information it had about the Switch 2 could not be considered 100 percent accurate. “Only Nintendo can tell whether accessories for the Switch will be compatible with the Switch 2,” said Genki.
Nintendo had recently kicked off pre-orders for the Switch 2 across various regions worldwide, and has seen quite a response. In Japan, the company had announced that the lottery system it was using to register people for Switch 2 pre-orders resulted in more than 2 million fans signing up to get their hands on the console at launch. Buyers in the US and Canada reported facing technical issues while trying to place their own pre-orders as well.
