Japanese mascot Chiitan defeats an entire city in landmark legal case

In a landmark legal victory, the popular Japanese mascot Chiitan has won a defamation suit against the city of Susaki in Kochi Prefecture.

Chiitan, described as a fairy otter baby who is 0 years old, is perhaps best known known for its quirky and often outrageous antics, boasting over two million followers on social media platforms.

Chiitan is known for their often crazy antics in videos shared to their social media channels

The victory marks the culmination of a long-running feud between the mischievous character and the city officials who initially embraced, and then subsequently criticized, Chiitan’s rise to fame.

The conflict began in 2018 when the city of Susaki, known for its official mascot Shinjo-kun who is also an otter, designated a pet Asian small-clawed otter with the name of Chiitan as a city ambassador.

Chiitan the pet otter (left) and Chiitan the fairy baby otter mascot (right)

This led to confusion and ultimately, a public dispute with Chiitan, a genderless fairy otter character created by Hashibiro Kou, the same artist who designed Shinjo-kun.

The city of Susaki, concerned about the potential for confusion and in the midst of receiving public backlash in the form of complaints about the city being associated with the mascot Chiitan and their crazy antics, rescinded the pet otter’s ambassadorial title in 2019 in the hopes of removing any negative association.

Despite this setback, mascot Chiitan’s popularity continued to soar. However, the city of Susaki persisted in claiming that Chiitan violated the city’s copyright on Shinjo-kun due to the close resemblance owed to the same artist being responsible for both mascots.

Chiitan and Shinjo-kun in better days before the beef

These claims, according to Kleeblatt Inc., Chiitan’s management company, severely damaged the character’s reputation and resulted in significant financial losses by way of leading to a reduction in, or in some cases outright cancellation, of appearance bookings for Chiitan.

In a recent court ruling, a Tokyo court sided with Kleeblatt Inc., awarding the company 7.86 million yen in damages.

Chiitan was unavailable for comment, but we’re reliably informed they are pleased with the outcome of the case

The court agreed with Kleeblatt’s argument that Chiitan’s creation was a collaborative effort with the tacit approval of city officials, as Chiitan was originally being marketed as Shinjo-kun’s “best friend”, and therefore did not constitute copyright infringement.

The city of Susaki has expressed its dissatisfaction with the verdict and plans to appeal the court’s decision.

Source: Asahi Shimbun