Hello Kitty creator miffed

Sanrio, the creator of Hello Kitty, was unhappy with a Dutch ruling in a copyright case against its famous feline character’s rabbit friend Cathy.

Dutch Miffy vs Hello Kitty Cathy

An Amsterdam court last week ordered Sanrio to halt production and sales of Cathy merchandise in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg after finding the Japanese bunny too closely resembled the Dutch character Miffy.

Miffy (left) was created in 1955, while Cathy (right) has been marketed since 1976 as one of the friends of Hello Kitty, a character that made its debut in in 1974. Sanrio is considering filing an appeal.

Hello Kitty playing cards made of real gold

Sanrio is going to sell sets of Hello Kitty playing cards – measured at 58 x 89 mm and weighed 0.73 gram each – which are made of 99.99% pure gold.

Hello Kitty gold playing cards

The cards are priced at 567,000 yen ($4,900).