"Unauthorized use of likeness and name is a clear infringement"… 5 million won compensation ruling

Actor Park Seo-joon (36) won a damages lawsuit against a restaurant that unlawfully used a scene from his drama for advertising.

On the 2nd, the 13th Civil Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Chief Judge Seok Jun-hyup) ruled in favor of Park Seo-joon in his damages lawsuit against restaurant owner A, ordering A to pay Park Seo-joon 5 million won. The court also ruled that each party should bear their own litigation costs.

The court stated, "Even if the likeness and name of a celebrity are made public, it should not be used without the individual's permission for someone else's business," adding, "This is a clear violation of the right of publicity." The compensation amount was determined considering the restaurant's small scale and the nature and duration of the infringement.

"Soy sauce crab eating frenzy"… Unauthorized advertisement for 5 years, search ads for 6 years

Previously, Park Seo-joon filmed a scene where he eats soy sauce crab at the restaurant for the tvN drama 'What's Wrong with Secretary Kim'.

Subsequently, A used phrases like "The place where Park Seo-joon had a soy sauce crab eating frenzy" and "The must-try crab restaurant that even Park Seo-joon loved" in advertisements for approximately 5 years, from August 2019 to September last year, without Park's consent. Additionally, the advertisement was executed through Naver search ads for about 6 years.

Park Seo-joon's agency, Awesome ENT, filed a lawsuit for a violation of publicity rights seeking compensation of 60 million won, stating that A used the scene in advertisements without his consent.

According to the agency, the reported compensation figure of 6 billion won was merely referencing the typical advertising amount executed over a year (1 billion won X 6 years), but the actual claimed amount was 60 million won.

“Requested to stop the advertisement but was ignored… Legal action inevitable”

A representative from the agency told Maeil Business Star Today, "We continuously requested A to stop the advertisements, but they repeatedly took them down for a period only to put them back up again. Eventually, they stopped responding to our requests to take them down, which led to the decision to take legal action."

In the current trial, A countered by stating, "It is common practice for promotional photos from drama sponsors to be used," but the court rejected this argument.

Meanwhile, Park Seo-joon is set to star in the upcoming JTBC drama 'Waiting for Gyeongdo'.

Image source: tvn 'What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?', online community