A Cat Symbol within Vietnam’s Lunar Year Eve was accused of copyright infringement by a Korean creator
Before the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit in 2023, Vietnamese society made waves when one party organized and presented the cat symbol in Da Nang in the Miss Cat Tet race, which was accused by a Korean designer of plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Korean designer for the original cat symbol Lee Sang Soo said he discovered the copyright infringement on his work displayed in Da Nang, one of the major cities in Vietnam a few days before the 2023 Vietnamese Lunar New Year’s Eve when there was some friends shared the cat symbol image for him.
Mr. Lee Sang Soo creates the work and publishes it on a digital platform and thereby is automatically protected by copyright without registration. His work has been published many times in Korean and international newspapers, thereby, there is clear evidence of the design date, design process and effort, recognized by the community.
It is because of such clear evidence that the parties organizing and designing the mascot in Da Nang do not have a dispute about whose copyright is it. Instead, they take the blame for not having better control over the works that are submitted, awarded and/or designed, especially in terms of checking if the rights to the work belong to the submitters, etc.
The program management said that the works on display were all tagged with the author’s name and the title of the work, but there was no closer control of the information provided.
Quy Mao Cat symbol in Da Nang is accused of copyright infringement
During the time of working with the authorities, the author Lee Sang Soo said that the plagiarism performed in Da Nang was worse in terms of form and material and color.
The author said that his product is minimally created from curves and twists, with just a few bright colored sprayed metal coils that look very naughty, vivid, representing the cat animal in an abstract and artistic way.
He expressed his frustration when the creative product was copied almost exactly the same and affirmed that he had never allowed anyone to use the idea, especially in Vietnam in such a national competition with the cat symbol in the year of the cat according to Vietnam’s belief and culture.
The fact that a large-scale competition has products accused of plagiarism is almost unprecedented in Vietnam. People in Da Nang as well as the whole country are shocked by this fact, which seriously affects the image of Vietnam in the world.
Right in the morning after receiving information from the Korean author, the leader of the Da Nang Department of Construction said that the City’s Civil Engineering Management Board (the Management Board) had handled the case and ordered the removal of the cat symbol immediately. Currently, after the Lunar New Year, Mr. Lee Sang Soo has no further information about the case, including the possibility of taking legal measures.
If they decide to pursue the case, the party that organizes the cat symbol infringing on copyright on Da Nang Spring Flower Street is likely to have to pay a large amount of compensation to the Korean author.
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– You could visit here to see the Trademark Registration in Vietnam.
– You can also check the Vietnam Trademark Law: Detailed Guide And Legal Notes.
– You could check Questions of filing trademark in Vietnam: POA, Trademark requirement and trademark fee in Vietnam.
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