A South Korean restaurant that uses the brand name of 'Louis Vitton' company is being fined by SK court. The fried chicken restaurant owner has to pay 14.5 million won ($12, 500) for not following the ban ordered by the court.
The fashion boutique company, Louis Vuitton, filed a suit in September against a small restaurant in Seoul, South Korea for illegally using their brand name. According to Yahoo News, the company was not too pleased with the owner's creativity in selling fried chicken, as it is damaging to the brand.
The owner, identified only by his surname Kim, had named his eatery 'LOUIS VUITTON DAK' - a play on the word "tongdak," which means whole chicken in Korean. Aside from name, the owner also uses the logo similar to that of French fashion boutique and had it printed on the napkins and fried chicken take-out boxes.
South Korean court agreed and in October ordered Mr. Kim to cease using the name. He was also threatened to pay 500,000 won if he will not comply with the court order.
In a report by The Star, the restaurant owner came up with another name "chaLouisvui tondak", which he insisted that it is already different and enough to comply with the court ruling.
However, Louis Vuitton does not too convince with the change. This week, the fashion company complained again. The court ordered Mr. Kim to pay 14.5 million won ($12, 500) for almost a month of displaying the altered name.
"Although he changed the name with different spacing, the two names sounded almost the same," the Korea Times quoted the judge as saying.
No statement has been made by Mr. Kim and it is yet to be known if could pay the fine for using the amended name. Louis Vuitton seems not too pleased hearing their brand name being used in selling fried chickens.
