Nintendo confirms copyright litigation will continue amid anti-AI lobbying controversy
The Japanese video game giant Nintendo has issued a rare, official public statement to address a recent rumor that had been circulating on social media.
The statement, which was posted in both Japanese and English, is a direct denial of the claim that Nintendo has been lobbying the Japanese government to enact stricter regulations on generative AI.
The rumor, which had been gaining traction online, suggested that the company was actively working to influence government policy in order to protect its intellectual property from potential copyright infringement by generative AI.
In its official statement, posted on the company’s corporate X account, Nintendo said, “There is no truth to the assertions that Nintendo is engaged in any sort of lobbying of the Japanese government in relation to generative AI.”
While the company has denied that it is engaged in any specific, anti-AI lobbying, it also used the statement to clarify its general and long-standing policy on intellectual property protection.
The statement continued, “Regardless of whether generative AI is used or not, our policy is to take appropriate action against anything that we determine to be an infringement of our IP.”
This new announcement is a significant and direct intervention from the historically tight-lipped company into the intense and ongoing global debate surrounding the intersection of generative AI and copyright law.
The official statement was released by Nintendo on Sunday, the 5th of October.
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