Gamers Attempting To Sue Nintendo Over Tariff Refunds
A few months back, reports surfaced that Nintendo was suing the US Government over the tariffs applied by President Donald Trump, after the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs were illegal. Nintendo, along with many other affected companies, is suing to be compensated for the amount of money lost when the tariffs were being enforced.
Now, Nintendo themselves is being targeted in a lawsuit related to these tariffs. A pair of gamers from California have reportedly filed a suit claiming that any refunds Nintendo obtains “constitute unjust enrichment and violate Washington state consumer protection law”. Both gamers claim to have purchased Nintendo products that had increased in price due to the tariffs, and believe that they, along with any other citizen that did the same, are entitled to have the tariff refunds passed along to them as consumers.
“Unless restrained by this Court, Nintendo stands to recover the same tariff payments twice—once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds, including interest paid by the government on those funds.”
Publication GamesFray reached out to Don McGowan, former chief legal officer for The Pokémon Company, about his thoughts on the suit, and he had this to say:
“I have exceptional difficulty seeing how this is a valid lawsuit. There’s nothing distinct between raising prices because of tariffs and raising prices because you just want to make more money. There’s no legal obligation to keep your margins low. Nintendo didn’t receive tariff funds as a fiduciary or with any legal obligation to return them to the consumer.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
