Sanrio, Inc., the owner of the character Hello Kitty, has filed a lawsuit in federal court for copyright infringement against the owners of an Oklahoma child beauty pageant.

The lawsuit claims that Cherilyn Holden and Kristi Musick, whose Definitely Diva company runs beauty pageants in Oklahoma, used the Hello Kitty image in the "Tickle Me Pink" pageant event last September.

The lawsuit paperwork included images taken from the pageant's Facebook page, which had said that it would award "custom Hello Kitty trophies" to each contestant. Sanrio's lawsuit said the company sent cease-and-desist letters to the pageant organizers, but that trophies and tiaras with Hello Kitty images were still awarded.

Sanrio recently filed an unrelated lawsuit in California earlier this month against 50 unnamed defendants. The lawsuit in that case claims that the defendants "obtained possession of copies" of Sanrio's animated Flint the Time Detective and Hello Kitty properties and handled the properties as their own and marketed the programming, all while concealing their activities from Sanrio Japan. Sanrio's American arm is filing the lawsuit on behalf of Sanrio Japan and is requesting a jury trial for damages equal to or exceeding US$25,000.

Source: Associated Press via Muskogee Phoenix