 Nintendo argued that Universal had themselves proven that "King Kong"s plot and characters were in the public domain in "Universal City Studios, Inc. v. RKO General, Inc."

Sweet ruled that Universal had acted in bad faith by threatening Nintendo's licensees and that it had no right over the name "King Kong" or the characters and story.He further held that there was no possibility for consumers to confuse Nintendo's game and characters with the "King Kong" films and their characters.Universal appealed the case, but the verdict was upheld.