Earlier this month, Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC sued Shanghai Zhengongfu Fast Food Management Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Zhengongfu Catering Management Co., Ltd., and Guangzhou Zhengongfu Fast Food Chain Management Co., Ltd. (collectively referred to as Zhengongfu (真功夫)) in the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court, asking Zhengongfu to cease using a Bruce Lee image (in marketing materials and signage), issue a public clarification in the media for 90 consecutive days that it has nothing to do with Bruce Lee, and requested the court to order Zhengongfu to pay 210 million yuan in economic losses and 88,000 yuan in reasonable expenses (about $30 million USD).
Zhengongfu was founded in 1990 and now has over 600 restaurants throughout China and is in the only Chinese brand in the top 5 of fast food chains in China. Zhengongfu has been using a drawn image in store signage and marketing of a martial artist in a yellow top that is reminiscent of Bruce Lee dressed in a yellow-and-black one-piece tracksuit from the movie Game of Death. Zhengongfu has also registered several trademarks incorporating the martial artist that Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC alleges is Bruce Lee. For example, in 2004, Zhengongfu filed for mark 3999537 reproduced below and registered in 2008. There are at least eleven other Chinese trademarks bearing a similar image registered to Zhengongfu.
CN Trademark No. 3999537
This mark is regularly used in store signage as shown in the photo below of a Shanghai branch of the chain.
By WhisperToMe – Own work, CC0.
In the following screen shot from Game of Death, Bruce Lee, in a yellow-and-black tracksuit, strikes a pose similar to that in the trademark.
Still from Game of Death
The cause of action will most likely be portrait right violation, which is similar to California’s right of publicity and right of publicity for the deceased. Portrait rights in China are protected in the General Principles of Civil Law, with relevant articles reproduced below:
Article 100 Citizens shall enjoy the right of portrait. The use of a citizen’s portrait for profits without his consent shall be prohibited.
Article 120 If a citizen’s right of personal name, portrait, reputation or honor is infringed upon, he shall have the right to demand that the infringement be stopped, his reputation be rehabilitated, the ill effects be eliminated and an apology be made; he may also demand compensation for losses.
The above paragraph shall also apply to infringements upon a legal person’s right of name, reputation or honor.
Although not explicit in the law, portrait rights in China apply to the deceased as the Supreme Court made clear in Zhou Haiying v. Shaoxing Yuewang Jewellery and Gold Co., Ltd. for violating Lu Xun’s portrait right. The Court ruled that portrait rights continue after death and a close relative has the right sue on behalf of the deceased. Accordingly, Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, may need to be a named plaintiff in the current lawsuit.
Further, other cases indicate that drawn or cartoon images of persons are also protected by portrait right. As long as the person is identifiable in the image, portrait rights are infringed regardless of the medium (painting, sculpture, etc.). For example, in Beijing Huariling Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. and Zhang Zhensuo (stage name: Zhang Liang), the First Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing held that a cartoon reproduction of the plaintiff violated his portrait rights.
On the other hand, Michael Jordan was less successful in the Supreme Court based on a silhouette of a basketball player not showing any facial characteristics. The Supreme Court explained “the “portrait” protected by the right of portrait should be identifiable, which should contain enough information to enable the public to identify the corresponding right’s subject, that is, the personal characteristics of a specific natural person, so that it can clearly refer to the corresponding right’s subject…the facial features of natural persons are the most important personal characteristics of their physical features.”
Michael Jordan silhouette
In contrast, in the instant case, multiple characteristics potentially identifiable as belonging to Bruce Lee, including his facial characteristics, are present. Accordingly, Bruce Lee Enterprises, LLC and Bruce Lee’s daughter could prevail if the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court rules that the Zhengongfu image is identifiable as Bruce Lee.
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