by There are endless cases of copyright law violations over the popular anime “Kimetsu no Yaiba.” Including pirated DVDs, clothes, and fabrics that use characters without permission, smartphone cases, mask cases, etc. And this time, the Metropolitan Police Department Mukaijima Police Department filed a case for “cake.”
A 34-year-old self-employed woman sold a cake decorated with chocolate of “Kimetsu no Yaiba” to four people from December 20 to March 2009. I sent documents on suspicion of copyright law violation—the woman advertised on Instagram would make a cake for an anime character.
Devil’s fake cakes were sold for 13,000 to 15,000 yen each and sent to customers by courier. The customer selects a favorite character and sends the image by e-mail. The woman said that she had reverse-printed the image, placed a sheet on it, and traced it with a chocolate pen to color it.
In February 2009, the Mukojima police station launched an investigation after receiving a consultation from an animation production company official. The woman’s job is to make and sell cakes at her home, and in addition to the anime characters, she also undertakes birthday cakes based on her photos.
She said the woman was spending her money on her living expenses. She admitted to the investigation that she “recognized that it was illegal to use the character without permission” and “I thought that the cake would sell if I used the character.”
