Arrested for selling ‘illegal’ cakes from ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’

They arrest her for selling ‘illegal’ cakes from ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba‘; authorities alleged that the woman was violating the Copyright of the work.

This happened in Japan, where the 34-year-old woman in question started her pastry business from ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ (‘Demon Slayer’).

She offered the cakes of ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ on Instagram for prices between 2300 and 2700 pesos (13 thousand and 15 thousand yen), since 2019. In three years she accumulated 6.5 million yen (one million pesos).

However, the police recently detained her, as she did not have the license to use the characters from ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ for her cakes; so it violated copyright laws.

In a statement after being taken into custody, she mentioned that her idea was that her business could be successful if she used an anime character (like ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’), even though she knew it was a crime.

Now she will have to spend time in prison in addition to paying a fine for selling ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ cakes, although no details of the sentence were given.

The rights to ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ are very hard to come by

While in Japan the subject of copyright is very delicate, the case of ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba‘is very particular, as it is very difficult to obtain a license for the work.

This is because currently ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ is one of the strongest franchises in the entertainment world in Asia and much of the world.

Those who own the rights to ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ (including the author Koyoharu Gotōge), they are very strict on who can exploit the brand and its characters.

Just in July 2021 another arrest was reported for selling merchandise related to ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ without having the rights, this also in Japan.

The funny thing about that case is that the products did not use the characters or the name of ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’ like the cakes, they were only inspired by the work.

However, that was enough for a complaint to be filed with the authorities, who proceeded to remove the merchandise from the market and arrest the person responsible.

With information from Kotaku.