Teen seeks new logo after ‘shocking' KFC demand
High school student Ben Yang runs Yang's Fried Chicken from a food truck, selling Korean fried chicken, bubble tea and dessert
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Scoop
13-07-2025
- Scoop
K-Defense Day: Pimping For The Arms Dealers
Militarism is catching on across the countries of advanced economies and beyond. The sly, disingenuous term of 'defence' is used in this context, encouraging arms manufacturers, contractors and the entire apparatus of the military-industrial complex to fatten for the cause. The European Union huffs and struts towards higher targets of expenditure that will cull projects for peaceful development in favour of a fatuous rearmament agenda. Member countries of the NATO alliance, lent on by the administration of President Donald Trump, are doing the same. The countries of the Middle East continue to add to the numbers, with warring Israel seeing a 65% increase in 2024 to US$46.5 billion, the sharpest annual increase since the Six-Day War in 1967. In East Asia, military contractors are also preening themselves in Tokyo and Seoul, pressing the flesh and pursuing contracts. Japan's military spending rose by a gulping 21% in 2024. The amount of US$55.3 billion is the largest since 1952. In Seoul, on the occasion of K-Defense Day on June 8, President Lee Jae-myung made it clear that he did not want South Korea's own defence industry to miss out on all the fun. In a closed-door discussion held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul hotel organised by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Lee solemnly promised to 'do my best to push ahead, as long as we don't end up being labelled arms dealers'. This somewhat idiosyncratic caveat is bound to make little difference, given Lee's ambitions to promote the value of South Korea's killing inventory. DAPA, wanting to make the most of its first Defense Industry Day themed 'Remembering the dedication and passion of Korea's Defense Industry', was in a bullish mood to promote Korean military prowess. Some well minted propaganda did the rounds, drawing inspiration on the exploits of Admiral Yi Sun-sin on July 8, 1592, when the turtle ship was committed to the Battle of Sacheon against the Japanese fleet. The turtle ship, in its 'historical significance', symbolised 'Korea's will to protect its territory and its independent technological prowess.' Those in the defence industry had been worried that the new President might give them the cold shoulder on this grand occasion. He had previously attacked the installation of the US Terminal High Altitude Defense system on Korean soil, ostensibly to protect South Korea from North Korean missiles, as needlessly provocative. The militarists need not have worried. All the relevant mandarins were in attendance, including the Minister of National Defense nominee Ahn Gyu-baek and Chairperson of the National Defense Committee, Seong Il-jong. The industry titans were also represented. Numerous awards of merit were also presented. Lee had purportedly told his aides that K-Defense Day, put on the calendar of commemorations by his impeached predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol in 2023, would be a good opportunity to 'highlight our support for defence.' According to Korea JoongAng Daily, Lee outlined his various achievements of late to the closed gathering, including attending the G7 summit held last month in Canada. 'A big reason I went was to showcase the strength of our defence industry and to ask them to buy our submarines.' In May, it was revealed that a trio of South Korean firms – Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Aerospace – had made a combined offer to the Canadian armed forces valued between US$14 to 17 billion in submarines, with US$720 million worth of armoured vehicles and artillery systems. It was a good time for the Koreans to strike, given the stated view by newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Mike Carney that 'the old relationship with the United States based on… tight security and military cooperation is over'. Lee also explained his purpose for seeking an invitation to the latest NATO summit held in The Hague. Despite wanting to avoid accusations of being a grubby arms dealer, the ROK President was clearly placing the ambitions and wallets of arms dealers ahead of the common citizenry. He had become a pimp for arms: 'The biggest reason I wanted to go was to advertise our defence industry and weapons.' Participants at the forum pressed Lee to depart from the view that defence was a matter of procurement and competition between parties rather than a total industry beneficial to the state. The response was suitably patriotic – at least if you are a merchant of death: 'Defence and arms exports are not just a competition between companies; they're a competition between nations. We have to win as 'One Team Korea.'' In public remarks made at the start of the forum, Lee offered the sort of reasoning that launders the military-industrial complex of its stains, concealing its insatiable appetite to stimulate the cause for war. 'I hope the defence industry not only strengthens our security but also becomes one of Korea's future growth engines. The government will continue investing and providing strong support.' In response to 'the rapidly changing security environment', the government would also 'develop state-of-the-art weapon systems using artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned robots and build a healthy business ecosystem that goes beyond the industrial structure centred on big corporations to allow small and medium enterprises and diverse talent to participate.' Militarism, following this seedy rationale, should not just be for the big corporations and arms manufacturers. In the business of killing, the little guys should also be given a chance.
Scoop
09-07-2025
- Scoop
How fried chicken food truck YFC ran afoul of KFC's trademark lawyers
Explainer: An entrepreneurial teenager ran into trouble when his fried chicken business was called out by KFC. Why does a giant global corporation care so much about similarity to their logo? It all boils down to intellectual property rights, and businesses big and small wanting to protect their brand. What happened with YFC? Riccarton high school student Ben Yang started up his own business last year selling Korean fried chicken and more. The 17-year-old called it "YFC" - as in 'Yang Fried Chicken' - and gave it a red logo featuring a cartoon of Yang. However, fast food giant KFC objected to the similarity to its own logo, sending out legal documents ordering him to cease and desist. Yang has been told to change the name of his food truck by August and has started a contest to help rebrand. Why does KFC have to go after the 'little guy'? The teenager ran afoul of intellectual property rights by coming so close to the well-known KFC logo. Ben Cain, an intellectual property lawyer at Auckland law firm James & Wells, said it doesn't matter how small your business is in cases like this. "Companies like KFC take their IP rights in their brands, be they trademark rights, copyright rights or 'get-up' rights in how the brand is graphically represented, very seriously and they do so for good reasons." Rob Batty, co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property and an associate law professor at the University of Auckland, said enforcement action against trademark infringement often boils down to not wanting to confuse customers. "Consumer confusion can potentially lead to loss of sales," he said. "The prospect of consumers being confused by the use of the same or a similar sign can also potentially damage the reputation associated with a trademark." And while a teenager's food truck may be small, there are bigger principles at stake, Cain said. "The size of the business which is enforcing their rights is really irrelevant in this context - small or big, no one likes a third party copying their IP, so every business should take enforcement of their rights seriously. If a business doesn't, it can lose bottomline value in its IP rights by what is called 'loss of distinctiveness'." Batty noted there have been many cases where a trademarked term loses its uniqueness and becomes a generic term, such as aspirin, trampoline or escalator. "It is possible that a prolonged failure to police a trademark by a registered trademark owner could lead to genericide," he said. "Genericide describes a situation where a trademark loses its distinctiveness entirely, and becomes the common descriptive term of a particular good or service." Cain said that Yang's design ultimately comes too close to the more famous logo. "He's done something he shouldn't, perhaps naively: he's emulated the KFC name, logo and brand colours and as a consequence received a standard letter from a business asking him to stop and change. Such a letter is standard practice for a company the size of KFC - not calling an alleged infringer and saying 'hey, please stop'." Yang told RNZ he was surprised to get the legal orders. "It's quite shocking to see that KFC, this really big brand, would find out about this small food truck that's just parked down the road ... and just send legal documents without ... talking to us beforehand, without any communication," he said. A spokesperson for KFC earlier refused to comment on the YFC case to RNZ. How do they even find out? In the age of social media, it doesn't matter how small or remote your business is. YFC's logo, prominent on Instagram and other social media, was eventually spotted, and "someone saw his branding and told someone who told someone", Cain said. "Larger organisations may have specific individuals whose responsibility it is to monitor for conduct like this." Hasn't this sort of thing happened before? Small New Zealand businesses running afoul of bigger companies is nothing new. "'Policing' a registered trademark can protect against 'dilution'," Batty said. "This is where the distinctiveness of a trademark - that is, the ability of a trademark to be identified by consumers as marking out goods and services as having a particular trade origin - is weakened or eroded." The takeaway shop Popeye's in Feilding changed its name last year to North Street Takeaways after the US fast food giant of the same name objected. The American Popeye's opened its first outlet in New Zealand last year. In 2023, New Zealand homeware retailer Bed Bath & Beyond lost a trademark battle in the High Court against the Australian Bed Bath 'N' Table over a number of intellectual property-related claims. Back in 2015, the Christchurch cleaning firm Minions and Me ran into trouble with Hollywood's Universal Pictures for using images of the animated characters featured in the movie series Despicable Me. The business continues to use the name but had to drop all reference to the animated characters from its branding and advertising. Another famous copyright battle in the 1980s ensued between Harrods department store in London and a Palmerston North restaurant, which drew global media interest, while Australia and New Zealand had a long-running stoush over who could use the name mānuka honey. Well, how do you protect your business name yourself? "Being first matters," Batty said. "When you have come up with a new brand name or a new logo for your business, you should check whether the same name or logo (or a similar name or logo) has been registered as a trademark by another trader." The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand offers assistance in searching for and registering trademarks. It can also do "distinctiveness reports" to see if your name or logo comes a bit too close for comfort to another. Cain also suggests getting help from a professional intellectual property expert. "The first thing you should do is ask an IP lawyer to conduct a clearance search of identical and similar trademarks of all the countries you're intending to trade in. It's tempting to do the searching yourself but unless you are experienced it's not a good idea as there are many pitfalls. "Many start-ups and small businesses don't do any searching before they choose their name and come unstuck," he said, and they then lost time and money dealing with rebranding. The New Zealand Trade Marks Act 2002 also looks at situations where a person started using a trademark before another person registers or starts using a similar or identical one. "The first user will have a defence to trademark infringement," Batty said. KFC, originally calling itself Kentucky Fried Chicken, first opened in New Zealand back in 1971. "Some traders register their trademarks in New Zealand well before they start using them," Batty said. "For example, an application to register the words KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN was filed in 1981 (trademark registration number 139149). A logo (showing a portrait of Colonel Harland Sanders) is recorded on the Register as being filed in 1964 (trademark registration number 76669, now expired)." What options do you have if you get served up with a letter telling you you're infringing on someone's trademark? Yang has chosen to rebrand his fledgling business, rather than engage in a lengthy legal battle like some of those other examples. "Your options are pretty simple: fight back or change," Cain said. If you had a good defence over your trademark claim and can afford legal fees, it could be worth the battle, but ultimately boils down to how far you want to go, he said. "If you have no or a poor defence, don't quibble about it - just agree to change and change. Consumers will move on and accept your new brand before you know it."
Otago Daily Times
09-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
How a Chch fried chicken food truck ran afoul of KFC's trademark lawyers
By Nik Dirga of RNZ Explainer: An entrepreneurial teenager ran into trouble when his fried chicken business was called out by KFC. Why does a giant global corporation care so much about similarity to their logo? It all boils down to intellectual property rights, and businesses big and small wanting to protect their brand. What happened with YFC? Riccarton high school student Ben Yang started up his own business last year selling Korean fried chicken and more. The 17-year-old called it "YFC" - as in 'Yang Fried Chicken' - and gave it a red logo featuring a cartoon of Yang. However, fast food giant KFC objected to the similarity to its own logo, sending out legal documents ordering him to cease and desist. Yang has been told to change the name of his food truck by August and has started a contest to help rebrand. Why does KFC have to go after the 'little guy'? The teenager ran afoul of intellectual property rights by coming so close to the well-known KFC logo. Ben Cain, an intellectual property lawyer at Auckland law firm James & Wells, said it doesn't matter how small your business is in cases like this. "Companies like KFC take their IP rights in their brands, be they trademark rights, copyright rights or 'get-up' rights in how the brand is graphically represented, very seriously and they do so for good reasons." Rob Batty, co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property and an associate law professor at the University of Auckland, said enforcement action against trademark infringement often boils down to not wanting to confuse customers. "Consumer confusion can potentially lead to loss of sales," he said. "The prospect of consumers being confused by the use of the same or a similar sign can also potentially damage the reputation associated with a trademark." And while a teenager's food truck may be small, there are bigger principles at stake, Cain said. "The size of the business which is enforcing their rights is really irrelevant in this context - small or big, no one likes a third party copying their IP, so every business should take enforcement of their rights seriously. If a business doesn't, it can lose bottomline value in its IP rights by what is called 'loss of distinctiveness'." Batty noted there have been many cases where a trademarked term loses its uniqueness and becomes a generic term, such as aspirin, trampoline or escalator. "It is possible that a prolonged failure to police a trademark by a registered trademark owner could lead to genericide," he said. "Genericide describes a situation where a trademark loses its distinctiveness entirely, and becomes the common descriptive term of a particular good or service." Cain said that Yang's design ultimately comes too close to the more famous logo. "He's done something he shouldn't, perhaps naively: he's emulated the KFC name, logo and brand colours and as a consequence received a standard letter from a business asking him to stop and change. Such a letter is standard practice for a company the size of KFC - not calling an alleged infringer and saying 'hey, please stop'." Yang told RNZ he was surprised to get the legal orders. "It's quite shocking to see that KFC, this really big brand, would find out about this small food truck that's just parked down the road ... and just send legal documents without ... talking to us beforehand, without any communication," he said. A spokesperson for KFC earlier refused to comment on the YFC case to RNZ. How do they even find out? In the age of social media, it doesn't matter how small or remote your business is. YFC's logo, prominent on Instagram and other social media, was eventually spotted, and "someone saw his branding and told someone who told someone", Cain said. "Larger organisations may have specific individuals whose responsibility it is to monitor for conduct like this." Hasn't this sort of thing happened before? Small New Zealand businesses running afoul of bigger companies is nothing new. "'Policing' a registered trademark can protect against 'dilution'," Batty said. "This is where the distinctiveness of a trademark - that is, the ability of a trademark to be identified by consumers as marking out goods and services as having a particular trade origin - is weakened or eroded." The takeaway shop Popeye's in Feilding changed its name last year to North Street Takeaways after the US fast food giant of the same name objected. The American Popeye's opened its first outlet in New Zealand last year. In 2023, New Zealand homeware retailer Bed Bath & Beyond lost a trademark battle in the High Court against the Australian Bed Bath 'N' Table over a number of intellectual property-related claims. Back in 2015, the Christchurch cleaning firm Minions and Me ran into trouble with Hollywood's Universal Pictures for using images of the animated characters featured in the movie series Despicable Me. The business continues to use the name but had to drop all reference to the animated characters from its branding and advertising. Another famous copyright battle in the 1980s ensued between Harrods department store in London and a Palmerston North restaurant, which drew global media interest, while Australia and New Zealand had a long-running stoush over who could use the name mānuka honey. Well, how do you protect your business name yourself? "Being first matters," Batty said. "When you have come up with a new brand name or a new logo for your business, you should check whether the same name or logo (or a similar name or logo) has been registered as a trademark by another trader." The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand offers assistance in searching for and registering trademarks. It can also do "distinctiveness reports" to see if your name or logo comes a bit too close for comfort to another. Cain also suggests getting help from a professional intellectual property expert. "The first thing you should do is ask an IP lawyer to conduct a clearance search of identical and similar trademarks of all the countries you're intending to trade in. It's tempting to do the searching yourself but unless you are experienced it's not a good idea as there are many pitfalls. "Many start-ups and small businesses don't do any searching before they choose their name and come unstuck," he said, and they then lost time and money dealing with rebranding. The New Zealand Trade Marks Act 2002 also looks at situations where a person started using a trademark before another person registers or starts using a similar or identical one. "The first user will have a defence to trademark infringement," Batty said. KFC, originally calling itself Kentucky Fried Chicken, first opened in New Zealand back in 1971. "Some traders register their trademarks in New Zealand well before they start using them," Batty said. "For example, an application to register the words KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN was filed in 1981 (trademark registration number 139149). A logo (showing a portrait of Colonel Harland Sanders) is recorded on the Register as being filed in 1964 (trademark registration number 76669, now expired)." What options do you have if you get served up with a letter telling you you're infringing on someone's trademark? Yang has chosen to rebrand his fledgling business, rather than engage in a lengthy legal battle like some of those other examples. "Your options are pretty simple: fight back or change," Cain said. If you had a good defence over your trademark claim and can afford legal fees, it could be worth the battle, but ultimately boils down to how far you want to go, he said. "If you have no or a poor defence, don't quibble about it - just agree to change and change. Consumers will move on and accept your new brand before you know it."
