I know. But they targeted yuzu and successfully killed it. (because some of the devs supposedly did extremely stupid things)

From my understanding of Japanese law (lol super duper limited), it actually is the case specifically in Japan that they could lose their older IPs, however if they are still in use (banjo kazooie just got a new game in the last few years, right?) then THOSE IPs are safe in terms of maintaining ownership.

In my opinion that's just bullshit, but I do understand the reasoning.

However, if an IP has been abandoned, and no new games are planned, it should be completely fair game.

Can you help me with this? My reading says different:

What is Intellectual Property?

There are four types of intellectual property:

• A trademark is a name, logo, symbol, slogan, or tagline – or in some limited cases, even a shape, color, or sound – that is used to identify and distinguish goods or services of one person or company from those of another.
• A patent is a right granted by the federal government to the patent owner that permits the owner to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited time period (for example, up to 20 years).
• A copyright grants the owner the exclusive right to publish, reproduce, print, perform, display, license, film or record their literary, artistic, or musical content, and prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work.

• A trade secret is highly confidential proprietary information, such as a device, method, technique, process, formula, or program, that has undergone reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy because it provides significant economic value in not being known or readily discoverable by others

link

Wouldn't the bolded 'trade secret' section cover their switch's defense against its emulators?

Then, the requirement to defend:

For Good Reason: “Reasonable Measures” in Recent Trade Secret Law

One often-overlooked requirement has the potential to make or break a trade secret misappropriation claim: the trade secret owner must have taken “reasonable measures” to protect the trade secret; otherwise the information does not qualify as trade secret under the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) or the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“UTSA”). But the statute does not provide what protective measures are sufficiently reasonable, so that determination largely depends on each case’s facts and circumstances. This article examines recent case law surrounding what measures courts have found to be “reasonable” under the circumstances (and which ones courts have found were not “reasonable” under the circumstances).

link

Which is why I'm surprised most video game characters are generic humans these days.

Seems like it's easier to protect a trademark on Banjo and Kazooie than it is for John McWhiteguy from Call of Duty.