Louis Vuitton fried chicken: Korean company ordered to pay for using luxury brand name

A chicken shop in South Korea was ordered, on Monday, to pay 14.5m won (£9,000) to luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton, for continually using the company's name on its restaurant. The owner's original fine was increased when, after an initial ruling telling him to change the name, he tried to simply change the spacing in the name.

The restaurant was originally serving under 'Louis Vuitondak', according to South Korean newspaper, the Kyunghyang Shinmun, with the end part of the name, 'tondak', bearing similarities to the Korean term for 'fried chicken'. An injunction was filed by the French fashion house after which the owner, only referred to as A, subsequently changed the name to 'cha Louisvui Tondak'.

However, that name change was not enough to satisfy Louis Vuitton, with the brand maintaining that A was violating the court's decision. A responded by filing their own counter lawsuit, appealing that "...the newly modified name was not banned by the court."

But on Monday, 17 April, Judge Yu Yeong-il, of Civil Court 208 of the Seoul Central District Court, ruled in favour of Louis Vuitton, saying that even if the name was modified, it was still read in the same way in Korean. "We cannot say that the new name lies beyond the scope of the court's ban" said Yeong-il of the decision.

A has now been ordered to pay 500,000 won (£300) for each day he violated the court's order, totalling 14.5m won (£9,000).