Actor Park Seo-jun (37) has partially won a lawsuit for damages against a soy sauce crab restaurant owner who used a scene from the drama 'What's Wrong with Secretary Kim' without permission for advertising purposes.
The restaurant had provided its location for the 2018 tvN drama 'What's Wrong with Secretary Kim'. A scene was filmed showing Park Seo-jun enjoying soy sauce crab, after which the restaurant owner used the scene along with the phrase 'Even Park Seo-joon fell for this crab restaurant' on banners without permission.
The Seoul Eastern District Court's 13th Civil Division ordered the restaurant owner, identified only as Mr. A, to pay 5 million KRW in damages to Park Seo-jun. Initially, Park's side had estimated the damages at about 6 billion KRW, but the actual claim was adjusted to approximately 60 million KRW.
The court stated, "The unauthorized use of a celebrity's portrait and name for business promotion clearly infringes on the right of publicity." However, it also considered "the relatively small scale of the defendant's business and the duration and nature of the advertisement infringement" in determining the compensation amount.
The defendant argued that using the filming scene for promotional activities was an industry practice under the guise of drama sponsorship, but this claim was not accepted.
Park Seo-jun's agency stated, "Despite repeated requests for removal, the banners were persistently displayed, leading to malicious infringement. We took legal action and will continue to do our utmost to protect the actor's rights to his image."
The verdict has been finalized as neither party has appealed.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)