Bruce Lee's daughter sues Chinese fast food chain for using late kungfu master's image

 

Shannon Lee, daughter of the late Kung Fu legend Bruce Lee, reacts during an interview at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, before the start of a five-year exhibition on Lee, July 18, 2013. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/Files

 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A firm run by the daughter of Bruce Lee has sued a Chinese fast food for using the late kungfu star's image in its logo without permission and is seeking over 210 million yuan ($30 million) in compensation, Chinese media outlet The Paper reported.

 

California-based Bruce Lee Enterprises, whose head is Shannon Lee, filed the case against the Real Kungfu chain in a Shanghai court on Wednesday, requesting that the food firm stop using the image and pay an additional 88,000 yuan to cover legal expenses.

 

It also asked that the Guangzhou-based chain to issue clarifications for 90 days to say that it has nothing to do with Bruce Lee. Real Kungfu, which sells rice bowls with Chinese dishes, was founded in 1990 and has outlets in over 57 Chinese cities.

 

Its logo is of a man dressed in a yellow long-sleeved top whose looks and stance are similar to Bruce Lee and his famed 'ready to strike' pose.

 

Real Kungfu on its Weibo account on Thursday said it was "puzzled" by the lawsuit as it had used that logo for the last 15 years. It said that while there had been some issues in the past, its use of the logo was approved by national authorities.

 

The filing of the case comes as China has pledged to improve protection for intellectual property rights and apply stiffer penalties, one of the key topics in Beijing's trade dispute with the United States.

 

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-27

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I would imagine this to be a typical thing that a Chinese company is doing and not even thinking of asking for permission to use it .

Edited December 27, 20196 yr by keith101

Good luck with that. 
 

A Chinese company stole one of the brand names from a company I worked for. They poached our staff, copied the product, downloaded and copied all our literature, claimed to have all our certifications.

 

They even had photoshopped pictures on their website showing their CEO receiving an award (from us) and shaking hands with our CEO. 
 

Took them to court and we were forced to quit using our brand name in China.

Edited December 27, 20196 yr by mogandave
WW, Sp

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

Real Kungfu on its Weibo account on Thursday said it was "puzzled" by the lawsuit as it had used that logo for the last 15 years. It said that while there had been some issues in the past, its use of the logo was approved by national authorities.

Geez, the government said we could steal. Let's see how Trump's big trade deal plays out, now. IP theft, patent theft, copyright theft, technology transfer, SEO subsidies. Let's see if the Greatest Trade Deal Eveh manages to get even this one lawsuit up and running in Chinese courts. 

Fancy using his name anyway, he was not great, just an exhibition fighter, and his films were awful

Edited December 27, 20196 yr by Orton Rd

34 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

his films were awful

They were pretty good at the time.

37 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Fancy using his name anyway, he was not great, just an exhibition fighter, and his films were awful

Fact that even someone as ignorant as you know of him speaks volumes of how famous and popular he was. 

4 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Fancy using his name anyway, he was not great, just an exhibition fighter, and his films were awful

Gweiloman said 

Fact that even someone as ignorant as you know of him speaks volumes of how famous and popular he was. 

It's truly bizarre how people who have done absolutely nothing with their own lives can try to denigrate or destroy the image of people who actually do .  I guess there's always room in a busy and successful life for jealousy .......

 Bruce Lee is a legend. 

 

On Topic:

I've seen the restaurant in question in a few Chinese airports and it does give the impression that there is an endorsement contract involved.   

Lawsuits like these also send a message to other companies that might consider doing the same. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited December 27, 20196 yr by Seth1a2a

20 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Fancy using his name anyway, he was not great, just an exhibition fighter, and his films were awful

Lee is considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time. Google his name and read the article. 

5 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Lee is considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time. Google his name and read the article. 

I believe it was pure fiction, but he got his ass kicked somethin fierce in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I wonder if there was any sort of truth to that. I guess not the rest of it was sort of an alternate take. 

10 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Lee is considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time. Google his name and read the article. 

Rather like the Earth being considered flat, man never landing on the moon and Nikola Tesla inventing a time machine! As far as I have seen there is only one film of him in a real contest, lasted a few seconds, but at least he won. He was arrogant and boastful which is not a characteristic of a great martial artist, but the reverse

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by Orton Rd

16 hours ago, Seth1a2a said:

4 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Fancy using his name anyway, he was not great, just an exhibition fighter, and his films were awful

Gweiloman said 

Fact that even someone as ignorant as you know of him speaks volumes of how famous and popular he was. 

It's truly bizarre how people who have done absolutely nothing with their own lives can try to denigrate or destroy the image of people who actually do .  I guess there's always room in a busy and successful life for jealousy .......

 Bruce Lee is a legend. 

 

On Topic:

I've seen the restaurant in question in a few Chinese airports and it does give the impression that there is an endorsement contract involved.   

Lawsuits like these also send a message to other companies that might consider doing the same. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Legend? yes legendary awful films beloved by spotty teenage kids in the 70's

8 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

Legend? yes legendary awful films beloved by spotty teenage kids in the 70's

OK, that was me.  ????

5 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Legend? yes legendary awful films beloved by spotty teenage kids in the 70's

Really ?  Guess that's why nearly 50 years after his death he and his movies are still talked about and compared. Martial arts champions such as Ed Parker, Joe Lewis , Chuck Norris and a host of others have praised and commented on his skills, innovation, speed and strength.

6 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Legend? yes legendary awful films beloved by spotty teenage kids in the 70's

 

6 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Rather like the Earth being considered flat,

Awful Movies:
Enter the Dragon is considered to be one of the greatest martial arts films of all time.  In 2004, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Do they really do this in America for awful movies?  Did they check with you first before making such a terrible mistake in the flat world they live in?

 

Spotty teenagers:
James Coburn (Lees' student and friend) , George Lazenby(Lees' friend) and Steve McQueen (Lees' student and friend) were pallbearers at Bruce Lees' funeral. Are they the spotty teenagers you refer to or did we completely miss your point ?

 

Deserves:
Are you saying that people you don't respect , don't deserve the same rights as  the ones you do?  This thread is about  Shannon Lee preserving the image of her fathers name. The families of Elvis Presley,  John Lennon, Frank Zappa and many more have all done this and will continue to. Did they need to check with you first?   

 

Consider the source:
Lee was a real person who  made a significant contribution to the arts and humanity and not an anonymous individual posting on an internet forum who could be living in a 2.00/day hostel or his mothers basement or worse for all we know.  We are still waiting for a full list of your illustrious achievements  .Please elaborate further in your next reply.........

 

The most logical post of this thread:

On 12/26/2019 at 11:45 PM, mogandave said:

Good luck with that. 

Realistically this lawsuit will go nowhere in China but as I said before it sends a message to others elsewhere who might possibly want to profit from his estate.

 

If @Orton Rd needs to spit on Lee's grave to get something off his chest then so be it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by Seth1a2a

On 12/27/2019 at 3:38 PM, Gweiloman said:

Fact that even someone as ignorant as you know of him speaks volumes of how famous and popular he was. 

Popularity does not equate to real talent or insight as a martial artist, he was just a show off not highly regarded by many by masters, but he was by the ignorant public. The films look like they were made by amateurs. She never really knew him as she was a baby when he died, just after money.

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by Orton Rd

45 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Really ?  Guess that's why nearly 50 years after his death he and his movies are still talked about and compared. Martial arts champions such as Ed Parker, Joe Lewis , Chuck Norris and a host of others have praised and commented on his skills, innovation, speed and strength.

He was really a show off and a populist martial artist, not a serious master, interesting you only quote foreign nobodies as being impressed by him

This time, you're eating noodles. Next time, it's gonna be glass.

 

 

10 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Popularity does not equate to real talent or insight as a martial artist, he was just a show off not highly regarded by many by masters, but he was by the ignorant public. The films look like they were made by amateurs. She never really knew him as she was a baby when he died, just after money.

 

Come on Orton, I usually like your posts but you are being unfair here.

 

His films were very successful, and he was the lead actor in all of them. Which actors in martial arts movies have "real talent or insight as a martial artist" in your opinion?

 

And what exactly do you mean by a "master"? Plenty of martial arts "masters" got their asses kicked in the early days of the UFC .....

 

If you think that Bruce Lee was a bad actor or a bad martial artist, that's your subjective opinion, but most people would disagree with you.

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by nkg
Brexit

Yes he was a good actor but they build him up to be far more than he was, the films themselves look very poorly done today. He's a victim of the same sort of hero worship that surrounds other people like Nikola Tesla where most of the things claimed about them are just untrue and that detracts from what they did achieve, which is usually not much.

 

 

2 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

Yes he was a good actor but they build him up to be far more than he was, the films themselves look very poorly done today. He's a victim of the same sort of hero worship that surrounds other people like Nikola Tesla where most of the things claimed about them are just untrue and that detracts from what they did achieve, which is usually not much.

 

 

David Carradine in Kung <deleted> was better. Liked the Peckinpah style sl-mo action scenes. Plus Carradine had a strong Bangkok connection, sort of.

 

Did the TVF auto censor actually delete the name of the TV show, Kung <deleted>???

 

Yep. Sure did. How absolutely silly.

Edited December 29, 20196 yr by zydeco

On 12/27/2019 at 3:34 PM, SteveK said:

They were pretty good at the time.

It was not only good at that time in the 70s but the movie makers at Golden Harvest were smart to capitalize on the feelings, mood and sentiments of the Chinese at that period of time. Most of Lee’s movies were about fighting for justice whether against the Japanese or rich landlords that bully the poor. He was also a damn good martial practitioner. 

On 12/28/2019 at 1:00 PM, Orton Rd said:

Legend? yes legendary awful films beloved by spotty teenage kids in the 70's

Did bruce lee steal your bike when you were young.

Never had one

On 12/27/2019 at 3:46 PM, zydeco said:

Geez, the government said we could steal. Let's see how Trump's big trade deal plays out, now. IP theft, patent theft, copyright theft, technology transfer, SEO subsidies. Let's see if the Greatest Trade Deal Eveh manages to get even this one lawsuit up and running in Chinese courts. 

Strange take on what was said.

 

They would have checked with the local/national authorities to see if they were breaking any copyright registered in China at the time. 15 years ago it was found that they weren't.

 

At best it's a tenuous claim. A pencil outline of a Chinese looking bloke in a yellow t-shirt? Oh yeah, that looks just like my Dad.

 

I've got news love, half of China does.