Hello Kitty fans in search of the latest merchandise can now shop across the EU as they please after the bloc fined the popular character's producer, Sanrio, for restricting sales within the EU's single market.
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The European Union's top anti-trust regulator on Tuesday fined Hello Kitty's owner for illegally restricting merchandise sales across the bloc.
Sanrio, the Japanese company that licenses and produces the wildly popular Hello Kitty products, will now have to pay a fine of €6.2 million ($6.9 million).
An EU probe launched in 2017 found that Sanrio imposed direct and indirect restrictions on retailers. Some of the practices deemed illegal included prohibiting out-of-territory sales and not renewing licensing contracts if retailers did not comply.
That meant that consumers within the EU's single market couldn't shop for cheaper deals on branded mugs, toys, bags and bed sheets in other EU member-states.
Happy Birthday: 40 years of 'Hello Kitty'
She doesn't have a mouth, and her bow is slightly crooked - still 'Hello Kitty,' hailing from Japan, has conquered the world. You either love the tiny cat and her pink paradise or you hate her. We congratulate.
Image: imago/PanoramiC
A cat named Kitty White
Originally, Kitty is from Japan but there is no mention of that in her CV. Instead it says: Born on November 1, 1974 in a London suburb. Kitty is five apples tall, weighs three apples, and likes - surprise - home-made apple pie. Her favorite subjects in school are English, Music and Art. And this hasn't changed in the past 40 years of her life.
Image: imago/PanoramiC
Complicated family relations
Kitty is a real late bloomer: She is still living in London with her parents Mary and George and her twin sister Mimmy. But her real "mum" is actually this woman: Japanese designer Yūko Shimizu, herself a huge cat lover. Two years after Kitty was born, Shimizu left Sanrio, the company producing the cat. But she kept creating characters, like Rebecca Bonbon, a French bulldog living in New York.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Letting the cat out of the bag
In 1975, Kitty was sold for the first time: on a purse sitting between a bottle of milk and a fish bowl, with the word "Hello!" written abover her head. When she was two years old, Kitty left Japan to become a global brand: linen, pencils, toasters - today there are more than 50,000 items on sale in more than 60 countries. In 2014, manufacturer Sanrio was earning roughly seven billion dollars.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Digital meow
Kitty became a TV star in the 1980s: a live action children's program, five animated series - and another one to forthcoming in the US. It's titled "KISS Hello Kitty." Executive producer will be the guy with the possibly longest tongue on earth: Gene Simmons, bassist of the metal band Kiss - because obviously Kitty has produced music, too. And games, released mostly in her home country Japan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Touching love
If you want to fully dive in Kitty's world, you should go to Harmonyland theme park in Japan or "Hello Kitty Town" in Malaysia. In Taiwan, you'll find a restaurant named "Hello Kitty Sweets," and in South Korea there is the "Hello Kitty Cafe." Biggest hit, however, is the Puroland amusement park near Tokyo: It showcases Kitty's house, including a bathtub in the shape of her face.
Image: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
Up in the air
For a couple of years now, Kitty enthusiasts have been in seventh heaven: Taiwanese EVA Air has six "Hello Kitty Jets" flying from Taiwan to the US, Japan, Korea and China. On the outside, the Airbus planes are painted with Kitty and her friends. In the plane, suitably dressed stewardesses will hand you Kitty cushions or serve special Kitty menus. Even the toilet paper is...well, guess what.
Image: imago
Born in the sign of the cat
In the maternity ward of Hau Sheng hospital in Yuanlin, Taiwan, kids are born right into the full Kitty cosmos: The elevator is pink, the labor room, the cots, the blanky, the nurses' uniforms, the birth certificats. And there are cats, cats, cats everywhere. The hospital states that all the pinkishness is supposed to minimise your stress during birth.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
A grown-up girl's dream
Even some grown-ups remain fascinated by Kitty: For Horlick and Jamie Ng's wedding in Hong Kong in 2007, a specially designed "Hello Kitty dream wedding" train took them through the city. At the main station they exchanged wedding vows. Or Natasha Goldsworth, 29, from England. She turned her flat into a pink "Hello Kitty" hell - for almost 83,000 dollar. And, yes, she's single.
Image: MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images
Kitty riot
When McDonald's in Singapore was selling "Hello Kitty" dolls in 2000, it almost disturbed the peace in the order-obsessed city state. Thousands wanted to get Kitty and her friend Daniel dressed up as bride and groom, and got into fist fights. Furniture was broken. The good news: When dolls were on sale again this year, just like in other Asian countries, things went smoothly.
Image: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Evil feline
Although she doesn't do any harm, some people hate Kitty. The flashy pink! The extreme cuteness! The Kitty-overdose! "Hello Kitty Hell," a blog, collects evidence of the evil feline's empire. Three men in Hong Kong were sort of inspired by the cat in a vicious way: They killed a young night club hostess, dismembered her and stuffed her skull into a giant "Hello Kitty" mermaid doll.
Image: imago/epd
Stoop to conquer
Less vicious but hardly less humiliating are grown-ups wearing "Hello Kitty" gadgets. For rookie relief pitchers on Major League Baseball teams, for example, it's a hazing ritual. It teaches humility. Something that the Thai police chose to adopt. In 2007, misbehaving cops were forced to wear bright pink "Hello Kitty" armbands for a couple of days.
Image: Getty Images
Heart of gold
Although Kitty's manufacturer Sanrio's revenue decreased in recent times, the tiny cat remains a best-selling brand. This collector's item made out of pure gold was sold for a mere 144,000 dollar. There is nothing too extravagant for a really Kitty enthusiast. And that hasn't changed for the past 40 years either.
Image: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images
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"Consumers, whether they are buying a Hello Kitty mug or a Chococat toy, can now take full advantage of one of the main benefits of the Single Market: the ability to shop around Europe for the best deals," said Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a statement.
Sanrio cooperated with the probe "beyond its legal obligation to do so," the Commission said.
The EU also fined Nike €12.5 million in March for similar practices, while another case against Universal Studios is ongoing.
Sanrio also owns several other popular characters, including My Melody, Little Twin Stars, Chococat and Keroppi. It also owns intellectual property rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters.
Hello Kitty, which the European Commission described as "an anthropomorphic cat girl also known by her full name Kitty White," has generated a multi-billion-dollar industry since she was introduced in 1974.