Joseph Luster
November 5, 2021 
Bootleg anime merchandise is still most definitely a thing, and while access to the real deal is extremely convenient now, that hasn’t stopped some folks from attempting to make a quick buck. That was the case with a 37-year-old office worker in Japan, who recently got busted for selling bootleg Love Live! mousepads.
When police finally caught and arrested the bootlegger, they found and seized over 400 mousepads from his home, featuring everything from Love Live! to Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Hatsune Miku, and beyond. While there was clearly a lot of copyright infringement going on there, the Love Live! mousepads were the items that led to the arrest.
You can see the plethora of mousepads on display in the news report:
Considering the zero-tolerance policy many license holders have in place in regards to fan-created merchandise being sold, it was only a matter of time before this particular seller got caught.
As for the motivation, it’s pretty straightforward. “I did it to make money,” he said, shocking the world. He definitely did so while he was in the thick of it, pulling in around two million yen (roughly US$17.5k) for the bootlegged items.
Via Crunchyroll
