Bruce Lee image fight building up to a climax

Mainland fast-food chain Zhenkungfu has changed its logo from one said to resemble late kung fu expert and film star Bruce Lee Siu-lung after his daughter initiated a lawsuit seeking 210 million yuan (HK$240.5 million) over the alleged unauthorized use of his image.

The trial began in Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday.

Bruce Lee Enterprises, a US company owned by Shannon Emery Lee, filed the claim in 2019 against three Zhenkungfu subsidiaries in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Her lawyer said Zhenkungfu - "real kung fu" in Chinese - has been using the allegedly infringing logo for 15 years and that the US firm is making a claim of 14 million yuan per year for a total of 210 million yuan.

The lawyer said the US firm has registered nearly 60 trademarks related to Bruce Lee in the mainland and that it enjoys the sole legal right to use them. Zhenkungfu, the lawyer added, had used the star's figure without permission.

Not only has that damaged the "dignity" carried in Bruce Lee's image, but it has also infringed on the property rights of the owner, the lawyer said.

The lawyer said it could be seen from registration documents that Zhenkungfu knew it was using Bruce Lee's image, but refused to get authorization from his heir.

It can be understood as a "malicious use," the lawyer said.

When the lawsuit was filed in 2019, Zhenkungfu said the trademark was authorized by China's Trademark Office of National Intellectual Property Administration and it is confused that Bruce Lee Enterprises has only made a claim after so many years.

"There had been controversies years ago on whether our trademark had infringed copyrights ... But there was no judiciary judgment on such infringement or requirement to stop using it," the restaurant said at the time.

Zhenkungfu was named "168 Dessert House" when it was founded in 1990 and then it changed to "168 Steamed Dim Sum" after four years.

Since it changed its name to Zhenkungfu in 2004, it used a figure of a man in a yellow shirt doing a kung fu pose as its trademark.

One of Bruce Lee's prominent icons came from his role of a kung fu master in a yellow tracksuit in the movie Game of Death in 1978.

Zhenkungfu has changed its official logo, which is still that of a man doing a kung fu pose, but the facial silhouette is not as prominent as the previous version.

The founder of the chain said in 2019 that it has more than 600 stores across the country, with a total asset value of more than 1 billion yuan, Chinese media reported.

It ranked among the top 10 fast-food companies in the mainland last year on a list issued by the China Cuisine Association.

Bruce Lee Enterprises in Los Angeles handles merchandising and licensing of the late star's image and aims to keep the martial artist's energy alive, its official website says.

Shannon Lee, who has taken over the company from her mother, has been involved in the preservation of her father's legacy for about two decades.