The traditional anime studio Nippon Animation is taking action for the first time in a US court against the alleged copyright infringement of its cult series “Chibi Maruko-chan”. We summarize below.
Lawsuit in US court
According to current court documents, Nippon Animation filed a lawsuit against those responsible for several online shops in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) at the end of May 2026.
According to the studio, the defendants are said to have sold various products with “Chibi Maruko-chan” motifs without authorization and in some cases even offered counterfeits of official merchandise items.
The operators are also accused of deliberately designing their online shops in such a way that they look like authorized points of sale for the series’ merchandise. According to Nippon Animation, the dealers involved are part of a larger network that distributes counterfeit goods to the US market.
The lawsuit aims to prevent the further distribution of the copyright-infringing products. In addition, online marketplaces and search engines should be obliged to no longer support the affected providers.
Nippon Animation is one of the most traditional anime producers and is particularly known for “Chibi Maruko-chan”, the first anime adaptation of “Hunter x Hunter” from 1999, and the “World Masterpiece Theater” series.
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Via storage.courtlistener.com
© Sakura Production / Nippon Animation