A local theater group has discovered that behind Hello Kitty's blank but somehow welcoming face lies the heavy hand of corporate law. Hello Kitty's copyright holders are threatening to sue FM Theater Power, a local drama troupe, for infringing its intellectual property rights, it was revealed Thursday.
The stage enthusiasts, a group of secondary students and drama lovers, said they received a letter Wednesday last week from local solicitor Victor Chu and Co representing Sanrio of Japan accusing them of stepping on Hello Kitty's copyright tail.
Sanrio requested that the drama group disclose all the details of activities connected with the production, promotion and staging of the play Kitty Hunter, including advertising materials, ticketing information, audience counts, revenue and profit.
However, a formal writ has not yet been filed with the court.
Banky Yeung, artistic director of the group and writer of Kitty Hunter, said the drama was simply a love story about a girl named Kitty, even though plush Hello Kitty toys are used as props and images similar to the cartoon character serve as promotion materials.
Yeung wrote the script when he was still a student at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts five years ago.
He said the play has been staged 59 times in various places including the academy's theater and cultural venues managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department since 2000.
Yeung said he could not understand Sanrio's reasoning.
"Lecturers at APA never told me that my script was infringing intellectual property rights," he said.
"My muse comes from my daily life. I wonder if creative work should go through self-censorship.
"Arts should be open to everyone and not be exclusive.
"This incident has shown that it is difficult for nonprofit-making groups like us to communicate with [multinational] companies."
Sanrio's regional office in Hong Kong could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Solicitor Vitus Leung said it is possible for the theater group to be sued if their materials is proved to be imitating the copyrighted character of Hello Kitty.
Leung said that Article 34 of the territory's Basic Law states that residents of the SAR have the freedom to engage in academic research, literary and artistic creation and other cultural activities.
A person, however, should not infringe copyright in a creative work.
