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Inside the ongoing dispute between two Ohio anime conventions - Ohayocon and Sekaicon - that includes trade secrets and logo controversy
Both Ohayocon and Sekaicon are locked in a legal battle that will probably stretch well into next year.
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When you’ve been to as many conventions as we have, it can be easy to forget how different each one is. Every convention you see has its own little personality, especially when you look at local cons in the anime community. A spat between two conventions in Ohio, Ohayocon and Sekaicon, has spilled into a courtroom drama even as both events plan their next events.
A little backstory is necessary for this story. Ohayocon has been running in various cities in Ohio since 2001. However, in 2024, several organizers and volunteers left the Cultural Exchange Society that owns and runs Ohayocon to form Sekaicon, which is set to take place this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. The reason behind the exodus of staff is that the former Convention Chair and Director of Marketing at Ohayocon were fired after a prolonged dispute over the convention’s logo (we’re serious).
Court filings made earlier this year claim that, when those employees and volunteers from Ohayocon set up Sekaicon, they took valuable trade secrets with them and are actively profiting from them with their new convention. Ohayocon is seeking compensation for damages and reimbursement of legal costs tied to the lawsuit. The lawsuit is currently in the discovery phase, where both parties gather evidence and form their legal strategies. The timeline proposed by the court would have a court resolution around May 2026, which would be enough time for both Ohayocon and Sekaicon to have another event in the meantime.
It is hard not to see the relationship between the two conventions. Even their two names feel connected. Ohayo (pronounced the same as the state) means "good morning" in Japanese, while Sekai means "world". Together, they are both a reference to the first opening to Dr. Stone titled Ohayo Sekai (Good morning, World) and a play on the program that everyone first makes when they learn to code - Hello, World. Even if we are overthinking an unintentional pun, there is so much crossover between the two.
The current court rulings also prohibit the two parties from actively disparaging each other on social media, but, with so much animosity between them we’ll be interested in how well that goes.
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