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A Twosome Place, a coffee franchise company, is under fire for selling cups that copied designs from famous artists.
The writer raised a problem and even sued, but the sale continued.
Reporter Kim Ji-wook reports.
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A Twosome Place store in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do.
Cups with two convex tiers in the middle are placed on the display stand.
It is a cup sold by Twosome as a Christmas event product, and it is almost similar to the 'Bubble Cup' design patented in 2019 by lacquer artist Namkwon Yoo.
Earlier this month, Mr. Yoo found out that these cups were sold through an acquaintance.
[Yoo Nam-kwon/Artist of lacquer lacquer: An acquaintance sent me the picture now, and did you do it with Twosome?] When I
sent a content certificate about using the design without permission, 'Twosome' sent the answer. It was not a supplier.
He admitted to stealing the design, but appealed to sell even 3,500 sets already made.
[Yoo Nam-kwon/lacquer writer: I only got a call from an agency...
I know it violated the design law, but since they have (already) made it, they came to ask me to sell it, does this make sense...
.]
I bought the cup myself, and the author requested to stop selling it, but the store still sells the cup.
Twosome announced that they would stop shipping after finding out the details only after the coverage began.
Even if the outsourcing company has the primary responsibility for reviewing the product, experts say that Twosome cannot be free from responsibility as it sold the product with a logo attached.
[Park Joo-hee/Attorney: It seems that the fact that they are continuing to sell even after receiving proof of contents requesting to stop selling seems to be a bit of an intentional infringement of design rights.]
Mr. Yoo filed a complaint against A Twosome Place to the police.
[Yoo Nam-kwon/Artist of lacquer lacquer: Wearing the logo of Twosome Place and going out as their own brand, I think it's such an irresponsible act.]
(Video coverage: Kang Dong-cheol, Video editing: Kim Jun-hee)