Nintendo takes its IPs very seriously. The company has an extremely strict copyright policy and isn't afraid to take legal action if it deems necessary. Although Nintendo has had its fair share of court cases, not all of them have been viewed favorably by the general public, let alone its fans.

For example: In 1989, Nintendo sued Blockbuster for photocopying Nintendo video game manuals to accompany rental cartridges. It even tried to ban video game rentals all together.

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Rental stores were all the rage back in the 1980s and '90s. Before the days of Netflix and Hulu, families would rent their favorite movies and games from brick and mortar stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Nintendo didn't like that rental stores were reaping the benefits of its intellectual properties without sharing a portion of the profits. The company wasn't sure how to go about banning video game rentals until the Computer Software Rental Amendments Act started making its way through congress.

The Computer Software Rental Amendments Act sought to ban computer software rentals due to the influx of piracy sweeping through the nation. Nintendo viewed the amendments act as its chance to tackle the issues it had with video game rentals. The company argued that the act should include video games, since they are a type of computer software.

However, certain lobby groups associated with rental stores pushed back and promised to do everything in their power to prevent the banishment of video game rentals. The lobby groups were ultimately successful, causing congress to completely ignore Nintendo's pleas.

Nintendo had to figure out another way to block video game rentals without help from the U.S. federal government. Instead of fighting for its rights through strenuous legislation acts, Nintendo decided to take matters into its own hands. After learning Blockbuster had started photocopying various Nintendo manuals to accompany video game rentals, the Big N decided to sue for copyright infringement in 1989.

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Nintendo believed copying its video game manuals broke North American copyright laws, stating that Blockbuster shouldn't be leasing these out in the first place. Growing frustrated by the constant barrage of nefarious claims by Nintendo, Blockbuster fought back, saying the lawsuit was just Nintendo throwing a fit due to its inability to ban video game rentals.

As ridiculous as the lawsuit seemed, Nintendo was victorious. Blockbuster agreed to package rentals with third party manuals instead of photocopied Nintendo versions and the two companies settled out of court just a year after the lawsuit began. Blockbuster didn't want to waste time and resources fighting a lawsuit for something that was only 3 percent of its revenue.

Although Nintendo couldn't prevent video game rentals from happening, it still managed to make an impact on the rental industry. The company continues to keeps its IPs on a short leash as it goes after various other companies for similar reasons. While preventing copyright infringement and piracy is important, many gamers think Nintendo tends to overreact in certain circumstances. Nevertheless, Nintendo's string of bizarre lawsuits and questionable legal battles will continue following the company as long as it remains a dominant force in the video game industry.

KEEP READING: Nintendo Was a WILDLY Different Company Before Video Games