A man has been arrested over trademark infringement for being in possession of fake commemorative medals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games with the intention of selling them, police said Thursday.
Yasuhiro Kotani, a 43-year-old resident of Osaka city, was found to have been in possession of 26 fake medals at his home on Monday.
Kotani, who was arrested on Wednesday, reportedly told the police he purchased the medals online from China.
"I found them on a Chinese shopping website and bought them as I thought they would sell well," he was quoted as saying.
The medals bore the "ichimatsu moyo" checkered patterns of the Tokyo Games logo. The patterns, registered as a trademark in January, were engraved on the medals without permission.
The design also resembled the 1,000-yen coins issued by the government in 2016 to commemorate the Tokyo Games.
Kotani is believed to have purchased a total of 80 medals from China and put them up for internet auction in pairs. Auction prices were around 4,000 yen ($36) on average, the police said.
