Can You Sell Super Mario Merchandise on Etsy? Nintendo's Trademark and Copyright Rules (2026)

On June 9, 2026, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie became the first film of 2026 to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office — $1.001 billion and counting, on a $110 million budget, making it the highest-grossing film of the year and the second-biggest video game movie ever (behind only its 2023 predecessor). Mario is, once again, everywhere: birthday parties, classroom decor, TikTok hauls, and — inevitably — Etsy search bars.

If you sell on Etsy, you've probably already seen the demand spike. Mario party props, plumber-themed shirts, mushroom plushies, "galaxy" cake toppers. And you've probably also seen thousands of other shops selling exactly that, which makes it feel safe.

It isn't. Nintendo is arguably the most aggressive intellectual property enforcer in the entire entertainment industry — and unlike most brands we cover, it has a long, documented history of going after individuals, not just counterfeit factories. Here's what Etsy sellers need to know in 2026.

Who actually owns Mario

Everything recognizable about the Mario universe is locked down twice over.

Trademarks. Nintendo owns registered trademarks in MARIO, SUPER MARIO, SUPER MARIO BROS., MARIO KART, LUIGI, PRINCESS PEACH, BOWSER, YOSHI, and dozens more — across apparel, toys, party goods, home decor, and pretty much every product class an Etsy seller touches. The names themselves are protected, which means putting "Mario" in your title or tags is a trademark use even if your product looks nothing like him.

Copyright. The character designs are protected expression: Mario's red cap with the "M" emblem, the mustache-plus-overalls combination as rendered by Nintendo, Luigi's green counterpart, Yoshi, the Koopa shells, the question block, the warp pipe with its distinctive lip, the Super Mushroom's red-and-white spotted cap on a face. Recreating any of these in any medium — vinyl, embroidery, crochet, clay, digital print — creates a derivative work that requires Nintendo's permission.

Two layers means two lawsuits. A single "Mario plush" listing can infringe the MARIO word mark (in the title), the character copyright (in the product), and trigger counterfeiting claims if it imitates official merchandise. Statutory damages run up to $2 million per counterfeited mark and up to $150,000 per work for willful copyright infringement.

Nintendo doesn't do warning shots

Most brand posts in this series cover Schedule A lawsuits — the mass federal cases where hundreds of marketplace sellers get sued anonymously and wake up to frozen funds. We found no documented Schedule A case filed by Nintendo against Etsy sellers, and we won't pretend otherwise.

Here's the uncomfortable part: Nintendo doesn't need Schedule A. Its enforcement record is scarier precisely because it's personal:

• In March 2024, Nintendo sued the developers of the Yuzu emulator and extracted a $2.4 million settlement plus a total shutdown.
• In September 2025, Nintendo won $2 million and a permanent injunction against the individual owner of ModdedHardware, a one-person modded-console operation.
• In October 2025, Nintendo identified a Reddit forum moderator through subpoenas to Discord and Google and demanded $4.5 million — from one person.
• Its patent suit against Palworld's developer and its takedown sweeps of fan games and decades-old fan content (the 2024 Garry's Mod purge removed twenty years of uploads) show it will spend legal fees on targets far smaller than an Etsy shop.

Nintendo also runs a dedicated infringement-reporting portal and files takedowns on Etsy continuously. Industry estimates have put Nintendo-related Etsy listings at well over 100,000, with only a tiny fraction licensed — those shops aren't safe, they're just unreported so far. Etsy's repeat-infringer policy means each takedown is a strike, and strikes compound into a full shop suspension with your funds in limbo.

And critically: Nintendo has no licensing program for handmade or fan merchandise. Disney runs official licensing for small manufacturers; Greek organizations license crafters; college brands license Etsy shops through CLC. Nintendo licenses big partners (Lego, Hasbro, Universal theme parks) and nobody else. There is no application form you missed. There is no fee you can pay. The answer is simply no.

The myths that get Mario sellers suspended

"It's handmade, so it's different." Handmade is a production method, not a legal defense. A crocheted Yoshi is a derivative work of Nintendo's copyrighted character design. If anything, handmade goods compete directly with Nintendo's official plush lines — which makes the infringement easier to argue, not harder.

"It's fan art." US law has no fan-art exception for commercial sales. The moment money changes hands, you're selling unlicensed derivative works. Fan art survives online because rights holders tolerate it — and Nintendo is famously the least tolerant rights holder in gaming.

"I wrote 'inspired by' and added a disclaimer." Saying "not affiliated with Nintendo" while using Nintendo's marks to sell your product is, if anything, an admission that you knew who owned them. Disclaimers don't cure trademark confusion and have never saved a seller from a takedown.

"It's a digital file, not a product." Digital downloads — SVG bundles, printable party kits, embroidery and crochet patterns of Nintendo characters — are reproductions and derivative works. Patterns are among the most-reported categories because they multiply infringement: every buyer becomes another maker.

"Thousands of shops sell it." That's survivorship bias. You see the shops that haven't been hit yet; the suspended ones don't show up in search. When Nintendo's agents file their next batch of reports, listing age and shop size are not considerations.

What you CAN sell to Mario-hungry buyers

The demand is real, and you can serve it legally by selling the vibe, not the brand:

• Generic retro-gaming aesthetics. Original 8-bit and pixel art that you design yourself — hearts, potions, generic pixel characters of your own creation, "press start" typography. Pixel style isn't protected; Nintendo's specific sprites are.
• Mushroom and toadstool designs. The red-spotted toadstool is a centuries-old natural motif at home in cottagecore. Draw a mushroom, not Nintendo's Super Mushroom face, and skip Mario tags entirely.
• Plumber and gamer humor. "World's Best Plumber" gifts, "Level Up" birthday shirts, "Player 2 Has Joined" baby announcements, controller-themed gifts — all generic gaming language no one owns.
• Galaxy and space party themes. The movie is driving "galaxy birthday" searches. Stars, planets, rockets, and cosmic color palettes are wide open — just don't put a mustachioed spaceman in the listing.
• Personalized blanks. Name banners, custom cake toppers, and party favors that buyers can theme themselves — sell the blank, let them decorate it.

Run every title and tag through a proper trademark check before listing, and steer clear of brand names in your SEO even as "comparison" keywords.

A 15-minute Mario cleanup for your shop

If any of this sounds like your shop, fix it before the next enforcement sweep rather than after:

1. Search your own listings for "Mario," "Luigi," "Peach," "Bowser," "Yoshi," "Mario Kart," "Nintendo," and "Super Mario" — in titles, tags, descriptions, and alt text. Etsy's reporting tools surface tag matches just as easily as title matches, and sellers routinely get caught by a single leftover tag on an otherwise generic listing.
2. Audit your product photos. A generic mushroom plush staged next to an official Mario figure pulls the character into your listing. Props count. So do mockup backgrounds with question blocks or warp pipes baked in.
3. Check your digital files and patterns. If you sell SVG bundles or craft patterns, open them. Bundled "bonus" files with Nintendo characters are a common inheritance from purchased commercial-use packs — and you're liable for what you distribute, not just what you designed.
4. Deactivate, don't edit, infringing listings. Editing a reported listing doesn't remove the strike, and a listing with sales history of infringing items can still be referenced in a report. Deactivate it, build a clean replacement, and relaunch with original designs and brand-free SEO.
5. Document your original work. Keep dated design files and process photos for everything you create. If you're ever wrongly flagged — it happens, especially to original pixel art — provenance is what wins the appeal.

The sellers who get hurt worst aren't the ones who knowingly sell counterfeit Mario plush; they're the ones with one old listing, one stray tag, one bundled SVG they forgot about. Fifteen minutes of housekeeping is cheaper than a frozen shop.

Already received a takedown?

Don't ignore it, and don't refile the listing. Read our guide to responding to an Etsy trademark violation notice, and if your shop has already been deactivated, here's what to do after an Etsy suspension. For the broader landscape on game IP — including Pokémon, Zelda, and Minecraft — see our video game merchandise guide.

The bottom line

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie crossing $1 billion guarantees two things: buyer demand for Mario-themed goods will stay hot through the holidays, and Nintendo's enforcement budget will stay funded. This is a company that pursued an emulator team, a console modder, and a Reddit moderator for millions each. An Etsy shop using its characters isn't a gray area — it's just a target that hasn't been processed yet.

Serve the demand with original work: retro pixel art you drew, mushroom cottagecore, plumber jokes, galaxy parties. Keep Nintendo's names out of your titles, tags, and designs, and you keep the sales without the strikes.

Want every listing checked before Nintendo's agents check it for you? ShieldMyShop scans your shop for trademark and copyright risks and flags problem listings before they become takedowns. Start your free trial and list with confidence.