A 15-year-old girl was arrested and fined 5,000 baht for making krathong baskets featuring cartoon characters that were ordered by undercover copyright police.
The girl, who gave her name as "Orm", said at her house in tambon Nong Khai Nam, Muang district that her family was shocked by the sting operation. She had intended to produce flower-patterned floats for this weekend's Loy Krathong Festival to raise money for her schooling, and sell them via Facebook.
The copyright representative for San-X, a Japanese stationery firm famous for its cartoon characters, issued a statement denying it had asked anyone to carry out the sting operation. TAC Consumer has assigned a lawyer to probe the matter, the company announced yesterday.