Briefly: Fake MPD mascot used on T-shirts

A case in which three men sold T-shirts with a look-alike of the Metropolitan Police Department's popular mascot Pipo-kun has been referred to prosecutors for alleged trademark infringement, sources said.

The three company employees from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, sold 85 T-shirts from July 2006 to August 2007.

The sources said the men, aged 22 to 28, admitted selling the shirts to raise money to launch a brand of bags.

Created in 1987, Pipo-kun appeared in a TV police drama.(IHT/Asahi: May 10,2008)