Court Dismisses Studio Comet’s Kuromi Copyright Suit Against Sanrio

A Japanese court has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by animation studio Studio Comet against Sanrio regarding the character Kuromi. The legal dispute, which began in February 2025, sought an injunction and a public apology acknowledging the studio as the character's creator. While the judge recognized Studio Comet employees as the original authors of Kuromi, who debuted in 2005 alongside My Melody, all claims were rejected. The ruling determined that copyright ownership had been transferred to Sanrio through an implied agreement, despite the absence of a written contract at the time of creation. The court cited Sanrio’s seventeen years of commercial development and sales without objection from the studio as evidence of this transfer. Consequently, Studio Comet cannot exercise rights over the character, though it successfully established its authorship status in the official record.