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Actor Park Seo-jun wins suit against crab restaurant for using his photo in an ad

Published: 03 Jul. 2025, 15:44

Actor Park Seo-jun [YONHAP]

Actor Park Seo-jun has partially won a damages lawsuit against a restaurant owner who used a scene from one of his dramas in an advertisement without permission.

The Seoul Eastern District Court ruled in favor of Park in part on May 29 in his lawsuit seeking 60 million won ($44,100) in damages from a soy sauce marinated crab restaurant owner, according to legal sources on Thursday. The court ordered the restaurant owner to pay 5 million won in compensation.

“Even if a celebrity’s likeness or name is publicly known, it cannot be used for someone else’s business without their consent,” the court said. “However, we also considered the relatively small size of the restaurant owner’s business, the nature of his operations, the form and duration of the portrait rights infringement, and other factors.”

As neither party appealed, the first-instance ruling was recently finalized.

“We repeatedly asked for the ads to be taken down since 2019, but despite removing them from portal search ads and banners at times, the owner would repost them and eventually stopped responding to further requests,” Park’s side said. “These egregious actions led to the lawsuit.”

“While the estimated damages based on advertising model fees could amount to 6 billion won, we filed for 60 million won considering the scale of the business and other circumstances,” the actor’s side stated.

“We have confirmed that malicious mockery and defamation, which constitute secondary harm, are ongoing despite the fair ruling,” Park’s side added. “We will respond firmly to any violations of our actor’s likeness and personal rights without leniency or settlement.”

Previously, Park filmed a scene eating soy sauce marinated crab in the 2018 tvN television drama series “What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim.”

The restaurant owner, who had provided the filming location, created a banner about a year later that read, “The place where Park Seo-jun did soy sauce marinated crab mukbang.”

The owner displayed this banner inside and outside his restaurant from August 2019 to September of last year — roughly five years.

He also ran portal search ads that said, “The marinated crab restaurant even Park Seo-jun fell in love with.”

Upon learning of this belatedly, the actor filed the damages lawsuit.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]