Bruce Lee’s Daughter Shannon Sues Kungfu Restaurant Chain for Illegal Use of His Image
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Los Angeles, CA (December 26th, 2019)– Shannon Lee, the daughter of the late martial artist and international acting superstar Bruce Lee, is suing Guangzhou restaurant chain Kungfu Catering Management, also known as Real Kung Fu (Zhen Gongfu), for 210 million Yuan (30 million United States dollars) for illegally using the likeness of her late father Bruce Lee for 15 years without permission since 2004, and is also asking the company to stop using Bruce’ Lee’s image. Ms. Lee claims intellectual property rights to her father’s name and likeness as the CEO of Bruce Lee Enterprises of Los Angeles, California, which handles merchandising and licensing of Bruce Lee’s name and image.
The mainland Chinese food chain’s logo does not exactly look like the late Bruce Lee, but the likeness, and features a dark-haired man in a Kungfu pose in a yellow-black uniform (in an outfit similar to the one seen in Bruce’s last movie ‘Game of Death’), The man’s hand pose is similar to Bruce Lee. The food chain, in an official statement of response, stated their advertising logo had long been approved for use officially by Chinese authorities.
Kungfu Catering Management has over 6000 fast food outlets in mainland China, is one of the top ten fast food outlets currently operating in China. “We are confused we are being prosecuted (taken to civil court so) many years later (after using our logo without issue). We are actively studying the case, and (we) are preparing to respond (to Ms. Lee’s allegation),” responded the company in an online statement on China’s Weibo platform.
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