Sanrio Gets Sued Over Hello Kitty's Friend

Bad news for Hello Kitty.

Sanrio is having to deal with legal issues in Amsterdan after a court ruled that Hello Kitty’s rabbit friend, Cathy, resembled their popular Dutch rabbit character Miffy, pictured above on the left.

A court ruled Tuesday that Sanrio’s Cathy was too similar to Dick Bruna’s Miffy which he created in 1955 and ordered all Cathy goods in Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to cease sales and production.

Sanrio was also ordered to pay almost $35,000 a day if they don’t comply, up to a total of around $2.8 million.

According to a statement by Sanrio:

“We object to this ruling and do not believe any copyright infringement took place, a view we intend to express legally. At this point, we believe any impact on company earnings will be limited.”

We’ll have to wait and see what the outcome will be, but it seems Sanrio is going to fight this in court.

What do U think about the similarities? A few similarities or copyright infringement?