The late international martial arts star Bruce Lee’s daughter, Li Xiangning, sued the mainland fast-food restaurant chain “Real Kung Fu” for infringement with a claim of 210 million yuan (RMB, the same below). Since 2004, real kung fu has used the “Kung Fu Minions” that resembles Bruce Lee as its trademark.
Shanghai’s “The Paper” quoted the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court as saying that the case is still under further trial. Chongqing “Upstream News” quoted people in the industry and legal circles as saying that although the image of the real kung fu trademark is very similar to that of Bruce Lee, it is unlikely to be judged invalid because of its early registration and long use time.
Li Xiangning (Yuantu) bought the ownership of Bruce Lee’s films and trademarks in the United States in the early years. In 2010, he went to the mainland to deal with Bruce Lee’s trademark issues. At that time, the State Trademark Office officially replied, “The rights to develop and utilize Bruce Lee and his English name Bruce Lee should belong to his heirs.”
In order to collect enough evidence, Li Xiangning did not formally file a court case until 2019, accusing Real Kung Fu of using Bruce Lee’s portrait without authorization, infringing on the personal dignity and property interests carried by Bruce Lee’s portrait, and demanding that Real Kung Fu immediately stop using Bruce Lee’s image and post it on the media page for 90 consecutive years. Tian clarified that it had nothing to do with Bruce Lee, and compensated for economic losses of 210 million yuan. The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court accepted the case on December 5 of the same year.
True Kung Fu once emphasized “no infringement” and refused to reconcile
Zhen Kung Fu responded at the time that the company applied for the Zhen Kung Fu series of trademarks to the State Trademark Office, which was authorized after a strict review by the Bureau. Although there have been infringement disputes for more than ten years, it has never been judged to infringe or revoked the trademarks, emphasizing that ” We are not infringing and will not seek out-of-court settlements.”
Real Kung Fu has registered more than 300 trademarks so far, including a variety of Kung Fu graphic trademarks. The current real kung fu trademark was modified by the company in 2016 for “rejuvenation”. The facial features are older and the trademark is blurred, but the reference image is still Bruce Lee. At that time, True Kung Fu also hung a number of Bruce Lee cartoons in the store, accompanied by slogans such as “Refuse to be defined, I have My Logo” (picture).
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/china/-True Kung Fu-Infringement Case Trial-Bruce Bruce’s Daughter Claims 210 Million/335552?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral