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| ▲ Actor Park Seo-jun is seen in this photo provided by Netflix. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, July 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korean actor Park Seo-jun has won a damages lawsuit against a restaurant that used his name and image for advertising without permission, his agency Awesome ENT said Thursday.
According to the agency, the court ruled in favor of Park in a 60 million-won (US$43,500) damages suit filed against a soy sauce marinated crab restaurant owner for infringing on the actor's portrait and name rights.
The agency stated, “We had repeatedly requested the restaurant since 2019 to stop using Park's image in advertisements, but they continued their malicious conduct — removing the ads only to repost them, and later completely ignoring our requests — which led us to take legal action.”
They added that even after the court ruling, secondary harm was ongoing, including "malicious mockery and defamation targeting the just outcome," and stressed, “We will respond firmly to any infringement of the actor’s portrait or personal rights without leniency or settlement.”
According to the agency, the restaurant used an image of Park Seo-jun eating soy sauce marinated crab in the 2018 tvN drama "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" to promote its business. The store displayed banners featuring his image and phrases such as “The soy sauce crab restaurant Park Seo-jun also fell in love with” in online ads.
The court set the damages at 5 million won, citing the restaurant's small business scale. Neither side appealed, making the first-instance ruling final.
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