New South Wales who? Nintendo has applied to trademark the ‘NSW’ acronym, hilariously not realising the Aussie connection. 

As per Kotaku, the gaming giant applied for the trademark via the European Union Intellectual Property Office, with ‘NSW’ being the favoured acronym for the Nintendo Switch console.

While it’s not surprising that Nintendo favours a three letter shorthand –  N64 and NDS are just two previous examples – Aussies have been having a lot of fun laughing at the potential trademark.

Lots of people were happy to welcome the idea of Mario replacing Dominic Perrottet as NSW’s Premier, although maybe Luigi would be a more responsible choice. Others pointed out that surely ‘NS’ would be a more appropriate acronym for the Nintendo Switch. I can’t imagine the console being a big seller in Victoria or Queensland if this trademark goes through.

Aussies have been having a terrible time with trademark battles recently. At the start of this year, it was revealed that a man had attempted – for some inexplicable reason – to trademark ‘Always Was Always Will Be’, the term that has recognised that First Nation people have occupied and cared for their country for thousands of years.

First Nations-owned fashion brand Clothing the Gaps called out the man’s trademark attempt on social media, sharing screenshots of the application which was filed by Christopher Michaelides all the way back on January 26th 2021 (yes, on Invasion Day).

That followed the all-time classic example of Kylie Jenner trying to trademark her first name when Kylie Minogue was out existing in the world.

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In their filing, Minogue’s representatives hilariously described their Kylie as an “internationally-renowned performing artist, humanitarian, and breast cancer activist known worldwide simply as ‘Kylie’,” while the Jenner Kylie was referred to as a “secondary reality television personality.”

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