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Nintendo reportedly sends cease and desist to custom Joy-Con charity campaign

Controllers were in memory of Desmond "Etika" Amofah; but included Switch logo and copyright

Nintendo has reportedly sent a cease and desist letter to an Indiegogo charity campaign that was making custom Joy-Con controller shells in memory of YouTuber Desmond "Etika" Amofah.

The campaign, which reached nearly $37,000 in funds raised by its conclusion in August of last year, was for a set of "Etikons," Joy-Con controllers with custom shells in honor of a YouTuber who took his own life earlier that June.

Proceeds from each sale were donated to the non-profit mental health resource group JED Foundation, with over $10,000 donated in December of last year.

However, at the end of September, campaign creator 'CptnAlex' says he received a cease and desist letter from Nintendo, which asserted that the Joy-Con shells and sale of them violated Nintendo's trademarks and IP rights.

In a follow-up Twitter thread, CptnAlex clarified that the issue Nintendo took with the campaign was not the selling of Joy-Con shells, but that the shells included the trademarked word "Joy-Con" as a part of the phrase "JoyConBoyz" and that they included the Nintendo Switch logo.

He has since suggested that he may publish a new campaign for the custom shells that does not include either trademark.

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Rebekah Valentine

Senior Staff Writer

Rebekah arrived at GamesIndustry in 2018 after four years of freelance writing and editing across multiple gaming and tech sites. When she's not recreating video game foods in a real life kitchen, she's happily imagining herself as an Animal Crossing character.