By Lee Kyung-min
A district court ordered a local fried chicken restaurant owner to pay 14.5 million won ($12,500) for failing to follow an earlier court ruling that banned him from operating his business under a name that parodied luxury brand "Louis Vuitton," Monday.
The owner, surnamed Kim, named his restaurant "LOUISVUI TON DAK," adapting the idea from the luxury brand. "Tongdak" means whole chicken in Korean. He created a logo similar to Louis Vuitton's, and had it printed on the napkins and wrappers.
In September last year, Louis Vuitton asked the district court to ban the restaurant from using the name. The company claimed Kim damaged the originality and value of the French brand by using it for his chicken restaurant.
The Seoul Central District Court accepted this in October, banned Kim from using the name and logo, adding that he should pay 500,000 won per day to Louis Vuitton if he did not follow the terms of this order.
However, Kim came up with the second parodied name, "chaLOUISVUI TONDAK," and the luxury brand company requested that the court order Kim to pay 14.5 million won for using the name for 29 days.
Kim claimed the second name was different from the first one banned by the court, but the court ruled against Kim. "Although he changed the name with different spacing, the two names sound almost the same. So he violated the court order and should pay the money," the court said.
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