BRUSSELS (Kyodo) A court in Amsterdam on Tuesday ordered creator Sanrio Co. to halt production of goods related to its rabbit character Cathy on the ground that it is a close imitation of famous Dutch rabbit character Miffy.
The ruling came after Mercis BV, a copyright management firm representing Dutch children's book author and Miffy's creator Dick Bruna, 83, filed a suit against Sanrio complaining that it has violated Bruna's copyrights. Mercis released a statement saying it is satisfied with the court ruling.
The court said Cathy is an imitation of Miffy and called for an immediate halt of production, sales and marketing of Cathy goods in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and told Sanrio to pay 25,000 euro a day in the event of noncompliance.