Abstract:
On September 9, the official social account of the White House released a promotional video imitating the style of "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", causing widespread controversy. The video uses the words "The Legend of Trump Make America Great Again" that resemble the title interface of "Ocarina of Time Remastered", and features a low-polygon style 3D image of Trump as the protagonist, showing him walking to the White House and working in the Oval Office.
The timing of the release of this video is quite subtle - just the day before (September 8), Nintendo had just announced the release date and actual machine demonstration of the remastered version of "Ocarina of Time" at the "Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Face-to-face", and the popularity of the game was at its peak. The White House obviously wants to use the traffic dividends from gaming topics for publicity.
This is not the first time that the Trump administration has "borrowed" Japanese game IP in official promotions. Previously, official accounts such as the White House and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have repeatedly used materials from "Wii Sports", "Pokémon", "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and other works to create promotional content, each time causing copyright disputes. In April this year, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi publicly stated at the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee: "Generally speaking, even for public institutions, it is inappropriate to copy works without the permission of the copyright owner." The Japanese government has reportedly made representations to the United States through the embassy in the United States many times.
Nintendo is known for actively protecting intellectual property rights. Just last week, the company filed a lawsuit against the United States over the tariffs. Faced with this "copycat" promotion that directly targets its own signature IP, whether Nintendo will take legal action has become the focus of attention from the outside world.
Currently, Nintendo has not issued an official statement on the matter.
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