2020 logo designer asks for withdrawal of some designs after fresh plagiarism accusations

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese designer who has been accused of plagiarism for his Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo said on Thursday he had asked a beer company to withdraw some of his designs due to new accusations of copyright infringement.

(Reuters)

Belgian designer Olivier Debie said in July the official logo for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was too similar to his design for the Theatre de Liege, but designer Kenjiro Sano denied any plagiarism. Debie said he would take legal action.

Tokyo Olympics organisers say they conducted detailed surveys before deciding on the logo and that there was no legal problem with it, noting that the theatre logo was not trademarked.

Sano's office said on Thursday it had asked the beer unit of Japan's Suntory Holdings [SUNTH.UL] to withdraw some tote bags designed by Sano that were distributed to customers to promote sales.

The request for the withdrawal came after "issues regarding copyright" were raised on the Internet, Sano's office said in the statement, without giving further details.

The brewery unit withdrew eight of the 30 designs of tote bag provided by Sano, a company spokeswoman said.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)