Policy and basic approach
As a company operating a character business, characters and IP are important assets that are fundamental to management of the Sanrio Group. They are essential management resources for securing a competitive advantage in business. For this reason, the Sanrio Compliance Charter, a universal model to be implemented and adhered to by all Sanrio Co. Ltd. and Sanrio Group officers and employees, clearly specifies “Corporate assets (including intangible assets) that form the basis of any business, shall be correctly and properly used and protected” as the first principle of conduct, and the entire Group actively works to protect IP.
Structure and governance
The Legal Affairs Department has primary responsibility for managing the rights and legal aspects of our IP.
The mission of the Legal Affairs Department is, from a legal perspective, to build the environment and foundation to enable management and business departments to make appropriate business decisions and to support them in their operations. In addition to vetting and assisting with the production of domestic and international agreements, the Legal Affairs Department provides advice on legal issues and addresses IP rights acquisition and management, as well as anti-infringement measures.
During the initial stages of product and service development, the Legal Affairs Department provides legal advice on designs, prevents infringement of IP rights, and thereby assists with rapid acquisition of IP rights.
Main initiatives
IP rights acquisition and management
Trademark registration applications, creation history management, and copyright registrations
The department actively acquires and manages trademarks and other IP rights in line with business development to establish the necessary legal rights to utilize and protect characters and IP. At present, Sanrio has applied for and registered trademarks in more than 150 countries and regions.
Anti-infringement Measures for IP Rights
Our lives have been enriched and made more convenient by globalization and development of the Internet. However, the risk of infringement of IP rights is rising due to the proliferation of image generation AI.
Sanrio places emphasis on protecting brand value and supporting genuine business, and eliminating infringing goods and providing safe genuine products and services that give consumers peace of mind. Working together with our overseas subsidiaries, we implement measures to prevent infringement of our IP rights.
In Japan, China, and around 60 other countries overseas, we are pursuing administrative and criminal enforcement and civil lawsuits against infringers, border enforcement by customs agencies in each country, and online takedowns of infringing goods and information.
In the future, we aim to strengthen IP management and anti-infringement measure functions, mainly overseas, and build a robust IP management systems globally.
Anti-infringement Measures
Working with Enforcement Agencies
Sanrio works with enforcement agencies in each country and region on implementing enforcement against infringers, seizure of infringing goods, and other anti-infringement measures.
Sanrio petitioned for criminal enforcement against a manufacturer of infringing goods in Zhejiang Province, China in 2024. The public safety authorities who received our petition took enforcement action and seized stationery sets and numerous other infringing goods related to Sanrio characters.
Infringing goods seized through criminal enforcement in Zhejiang Province, China
We also petitioned for administrative enforcements against a manufacturer of infringing goods in Hubei Province, China in 2024. Administrative enforcement by the State Administration for Market Regulation resulted in the seizure of masks and numerous other infringing goods related to Sanrio characters.
Infringing goods seized as a result of administrative enforcement in Hubei Province, China
PR campaign aimed at the public
To deter the manufacture and distribution of infringing goods that cause damage to brand value and have consumers choose genuine products, Sanrio conducts widespread PR campaigns on initiatives to protect our IP in each country. In FY2024, we introduced an initiative aimed at protecting Sanrio’s IP in China and Southeast Asian countries, based on the campaign slogan of “Your trust is important to Sanrio.” We used a wide range of media, including social media and digital ads, as well as offline ads such as television commercials, newspaper ads, and billboards, to communicate this message widely to communities, especially in the Southeast Asian region.
Awareness-raising posters distributed in multiple languages
