Case fileCopyright
Sanrio Co., Ltd. v. Sunrise Impression (exhibition license)
A licensing fight, not a counterfeiting one: the operator of a Hello Kitty 40th-anniversary exhibition sublicensed without permission and moved unsold stock after the license ended.
Sanrio Co., Ltd. (copyright licensor),
Plaintiff,
v.
Sunrise Impression (licensee),
Defendant.
Docket No.IP Court 108年度民著上字第2號; Supreme Court 110年度台上字第584號
CourtTaiwan IP Court; affirmed by the Supreme Court
Filed2019
StatusDecided
The record
- Court
- Taiwan IP Court; affirmed by the Supreme Court
- Jurisdiction
- Taiwan
- Docket No.
- IP Court 108年度民著上字第2號; Supreme Court 110年度台上字第584號
- Filed
- 2019
- Resolved
- 2021
- Sanrio’s role
- Plaintiff
- Type
- Copyright
- Claims
- Breach of an exhibition copyright license
- Counsel — plaintiff/petitioner
- not public
- Counsel — Sanrio side
- not public
What happened
A licensing fight, not a counterfeiting one: the operator of a Hello Kitty 40th-anniversary exhibition sublicensed without permission and moved unsold stock after the license ended.
Outcome
Sanrio largely won: NT$5.68M in liquidated damages (reduced from NT$15M) plus reporting, inspection and destruction of stock. The IP Court ruled 30 Apr 2020; the Supreme Court affirmed 26 Aug 2021.
The legal nuance
Shows the licensing model’s enforcement teeth run against paying partners too, not only bootleggers.
Sources of record