Cathy (キャシー, Kyashī), sometimes spelled Kathy, was a character from the Japanese company Sanrio that was part of the Hello Kitty universe. Although her first appearance is uncertain, she is believed to have originated in the 1970s or 1990s, depending on various sources but regardless was an older character among the lineup.
Cathy no longer appears in any media, merchandise, or the official website, as she was retired by Sanrio in 2011 after a series of legal disputes in the previous year.
Description[]
Cathy is (or was) a white girl rabbit character who was usually seen wearing a pink dress, and a pink bow positioned similarly to Hello Kitty's bow and has slight resemblance to My Melody. Also like Hello Kitty, she was usually portrayed as mouthless, although some media such as Hello Kitty and Friends did depict her with a visible mouth. Cathy was often said to be Hello Kitty's best friend like that of My Melody. She liked to collect seashells, and was allergic to milk. She also liked sushi lunches, lollipops, carrots, and Mary White's Kitty Cakes, as seen in Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals.
History and legal dispute[]
Comparison between Little Honey, Cathy, and Daisy
Cathy was originally conceived around 1973 - making herself one of the earliest known Sanrio characters and predating Hello Kitty - as a precursor character named "Little Honey" (リトルハニー); she was often paired with a bear character named Coro Chan, who was created around the same time period. Initially, the Little Honey character strongly resembled another fictional rabbit known as "Miffy", created by Dutch artist Dick Bruna roughly two decades prior to Little Honey's debut (1953). Little Honey would be superseded by "Cathy" around 1977, who was designed to more closely resemble Hello Kitty. Some time around 1998, another rabbit character design was created; this design is referred to as "Daisy" (デイジー). As with Little Honey, Daisy initially appeared alongside Coro Chan; but was later moved to general Hello Kitty branding.
nijntje pluis, better known as Miffy, the character that Mercis Media claimed Cathy was infringing the copyright and trademark of
On August 26th, 2010, Mercis Media (on behalf of Dick Bruna) filed legal action against Sanrio over the Cathy character, alleging that the character was a "copy" of Miffy. It is unclear if attempts of legal action occurred before the infamous 2010 lawsuit; though the frequent redesigns and renames of Cathy may indicate that prior litigation did occur. In November of 2010, the court ruled in favor of Mercis Media; Sanrio was ordered to stop producing Cathy merchandise in certain countries, or be fined up to €25,000 per day of her usage.
Sanrio filed an aggressive appeal to this ruling; a counter-lawsuit was filed, with Sanrio even seeking to invalidate trademark rights related to Miffy. In June 2011, however, both parties settled out of court. Sanrio was now prohibited from using the Cathy character worldwide, and both Sanrio and Mercis would donate €150,000 to relief funds for the March 11th, 2011 9.0 earthquake disaster in Japan (money which would otherwise be used for legal fees).
A scene replacing Cathy in Hello Kitty and Friends from VHS to DVD releases, by Fifi, another one of Hello Kitty's friends
A scene replacing Cathy in Hello Kitty: Ringo no Mori no Fantasy
Since the court settlement, Cathy has been absent from all newly-produced Sanrio media. Newer releases of older Hello Kitty media, such as Hello Kitty and Friends and the Hello Kitty: Ringo no Mori series, extensively remove Cathy in scenes where she originally appeared; often by directly tracing over her with other characters featured in the shows. A handful of post-2011 merchandise pieces are known to still use Daisy; though Sanrio itself generally avoids mentioning the name of all three character incarnations entirely.
Appearances[]
Hello Kitty and Friends[]
- The Circus Comes to Town (animated debut)
- The Day the Big Clock Stopped (cameo)
Hello Kitty's Paradise[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- Cathy's retirement is not without sadness and disappointment among fans of the character, considering she had been present for decades.
- It is not entirely clear whether Daisy is the same as Cathy, as there are inconsistencies across different pieces of media. For example, the Daisy design has been referred to as "Kathy" in several merchandise pieces, but in the Hello Kitty no Hiragana Katakana o-Namae Kaitemiyou! game for the Advanced Pico Beena, Daisy is portrayed as being a separate character from Cathy/Kathy. However, Daisy's clearer link to Little Honey - which in turn is linked to Miffy - indicates some level of connection to Cathy.
- While Sanrio officially credits Coro Chan as the company's first original character, Little Honey's debut seems to have been roughly-concurrent with Coro Chan (who debuted in 1973). Known pieces of Little Honey merchandise feature Sanrio's logo design from 1970 to 1973,[2] indicating that the character was created no later than that point.[3]
- Multiple Cathy-like rabbits (using the "Daisy" design) appear in Fairy Kitty artwork and merchandise. Presumably due to the Cathy litigation, later reprints of the Fairy Kitty artwork appear to remove the rabbits.
- A statue of a "Fairy Kitty"-like rabbit is held in the "Kitty Castle" attraction at Harmonyland. This statue remains intact to this day.
- While not officially confirmed, the litigation surrounding Cathy appears to have resulted in Hello Kitty's further original cast of friends (such as Fifi and Tracy) being used less frequently in post-2000s media. In particular, most newer animated adaptions use entirely new sets of characters designed specifically for their respective show (e.g. Hello Kitty Super Style! and Hello Kitty & Friends: Let's Learn Together).
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
OVAs[]
The Adventures of Hello Kitty and Friends[]
Merchandise[]
References[]
- "Dick Bruna, creator of the Miffy books, talks about his life and work" (The Telegraph)
- "Goodbye Cathy: Hello Kitty and Miffy settle copycat case" (The IPKat)
- "Miffy biffs Cathy in Kitty copycat case" (The Guardian)
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