Release Date: September 4th, 2019
A few months ago, I heard about a case where a kid sued Nintendo because he was unhappy with a game. I found the whole situation amusing, so I added it to my list of topics. Back in June, I was moving to a new house while at the same time, remodeling our old house to get it ready to sell. It was a super stressful, busy time. But I also wanted to keep making videos. I came back to this topic and decided I really wanted to make it. I looked up the case on PACER and found that all the documents had been archived. I called the National Archives at Kansas City, who told me the documents were stored in the National Archives at Boston. A quick phone call and $90 later, I had a PDF with everything I needed. The bulk of my writing came from these court documents. I was also able to find some newspaper clippings about the case.
Although the whole thing was dismissed, I still can’t get over the idea of a kid suing Nintendo. Of course his dad was a lawyer!
Sources
Documents
- Thiemann v. Nintendo of America, LJN Toys, MLB, Civil No. B-90-72-EBB
Newspapers
- “Beware jilted fan” by Jim Taylor, The Province, February 18th, 1990
- “Boy wages legal fight over video ballgame” by Joanne Johnson, Hartford Courant, March 5th, 1990
- “Youth makes pitch to sue Nintendo, Major Leagues” by UPI, The Dispatch, February 1st, 1990