I don’t know much about Miffy but she’s very popular in Europe and even Japan. But I do remember seeing her at the bookstore and thought, “Oh, this kind of art must be Japanese.” Then I saw it was from the Netherlands.
Miffy came out in 1955. Hello Kitty debut in 1974 in Japan and along the years she’s had lots of friends. Cathy, the rabbit came along in 1976.
Miffy, Dick Bruna’s rabbit, left, and Cathy, friend of Kitty. Image from The Guardian UK.
This lawsuit back in November of 2010 between Miffy’s creator and Sanrio may be old news now but it’s still news to me. Dick Bruna, creator of Miffy wants Sanrio to cease production of Cathy (Kathy) because it’s copyright infringement.
Radio Netherlands Wordwide reports :
“Sanrio had already been asked to stop the marketing of Kathy, but it ignored the request. Dick Bruna has now applied to an Amsterdam court for an injunction demanding an immediate halt to production. He is calling for 50,000 euros a day in damages in case of non-compliance.
The court ruled in favor of Dick Bruna and called for an immediate stop to production, sales and marketing of Kathy goods in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and told Sanrio to pay 25,000 euro a day in the event of noncompliance.”
The lawsuit went on for most of 2010 as Sanrio did not give in easy. But then the tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011 and Sanrio decided it was better off donating the money (spent on the lawsuit) to help the tsunami victims and rebuild Japan. And Sanrio decided to stop marketing Cathy and thus Miffy got her way.
In some ways, Cathy and Sanrio took the high road. And not that it will hurt Sanrio because they have much more characters kids love. Even for me, some 30 years later and I still love Hello Kitty.
I can see that maybe the creator of Cathy was inspired by Miffy, but it’s not copyright infringement.
The only resemblance would be the round face and big ears, but how else would you draw a cuddly cartoon rabbit? Miffy’s drawing has thin lines and feels cold, especially with the X mouth. Cathy looks much more friendlier and happier, even if she doesn’t even have a mouth. Maybe it’s the bow or the happy colors? Miffy’s world is mostly yellow, red and blue.
Mr. Bruna’s been around a long time and already made lots of money from Miffy. I say give the kids a chance to make their own choices. There’s room for more than one bunny rabbit.
10:36 pm on November 23rd, 2011
I don’t see the resemblance at all, Cathy looks more like the Hello Kitty gang to me. I used to watch Hello Kitty cartoon with Lee, they are one of my favorite cartoons. I’m glad Sanrio took the high road, and spent his money wisely.
12:34 am on November 28th, 2011
Yes I don’t see any resemblance either. For some reason, the creator of Miffy really thinks he’s the only person allowed to draw and market a cartoon rabbit. He makes me not like Miffy now.
I actually never knew about Cathy until this news came out. I’ve only heard of My Melody, she’s like Little Red Riding Hood but in pink.