Hugo fined for name violation

News > Local News

Published: 5 Mar 2013 at 19.29
Online news: Local News

British-Thai royal artist Chulachak "Hugo" Chakrabongse has been fined $15,000 (about 450,000 baht) for using a mononym already trademarked by a US artist, reports said on Tuesday.

Hugo, a Thai celebrity, collaborated with several one-name US artists such as Beyonce and Jay-Z. He attained international stardom after he released the Old Tyme Religion album on the Roc Nation label. The album hit the best-seller charts with singles including 99 Problems and Bread and Butter.

A New York-based artist named Jon Hugo Ungar filed a lawsuit against Chulachak at the US District Court in California on April 17 last year. The American claimed he had performed as "Hugo" for more than 10 years, and that he received a trademark for the name on Dec 10, 2010.

This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.

Forum

Your comments

Victor
Post : 1,300
Send message

Discussion 12 : 06 Mar 2013 at 19.3812
Post this to my Facebook
What would Victor Hugo say about this?
Like dislike 0 people liked / 0 people disliked this comment
djay
Post : 218
Send message

Discussion 11 : 06 Mar 2013 at 07.5911
Post this to my Facebook
D9, if you believe that is only a US thing, you haven't been paying attention to Thailand. Almost every day someone in Thailand sues someone else for 'defamation'. And, btw - trademark, copyright, IP cases are filed every day in Europe too.
Like dislike 2 people liked / 0 people disliked this comment
Hypocrisy
Post : 136
Send message

Discussion 10 : 06 Mar 2013 at 07.3810
Post this to my Facebook
Never heard of either!!!
Like dislike 3 people liked / 0 people disliked this comment
fakethai
Post : 1
Send message

Discussion 9 : 06 Mar 2013 at 02.579
Post this to my Facebook
The important thing is the judge also ruled that Hugo Chakrabongse is now the real Hugo. The other Hugo can no longer use the name. But it is typical of the litigious nature of US society.
Like dislike 3 people liked / 2 people disliked this comment
flashflood
Post : 185
Send message

Discussion 8 : 06 Mar 2013 at 01.518
Post this to my Facebook
D3 abbub....not knocking your view of thais lack or respect for the law ...but there is no indication that the thai Hugo didn't play by the rules - he used his own name as he has done for many years O/S and it doesn't state anywhere that he was aware of the other guys existence . not surprising given the dismal sales of the US guys album lol If the US Hugo has performed for 10 years but still only sold 3000 albums- maybe he's not that good anyway -smells like an attempt to scam half a million bucks cos it's the only way he can make a buck in the music industry.
Like dislike 8 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
warlock

Discussion 7 : 05 Mar 2013 at 22.407
D1 doesnt need glasses. The article was altered after the publication of disc 1. Initially the article stated 1,5 billion bht.
from iPhone application.
Like dislike 5 people liked / 1 people disliked this comment
bangmodken
Post : 1,305
Send message

Discussion 6 : 05 Mar 2013 at 22.046
Post this to my Facebook
This sounds like a joke. So now U.S. Hugo is the only one in the world who is allowed to use the name Hugo as an "artist"? He just made more money on a law suit than he has done in his entire career as an "artist"?
He should be sued for even calling himself an artist! Copy right laws suck! So does IP's! And the U.S.!
Like dislike 13 people liked / 4 people disliked this comment
abbub
Post : 2,027
Send message

Discussion 5 : 05 Mar 2013 at 22.035
Post this to my Facebook
FLP D2: Maybe Joa does need glasses. But there is no need to be insulting and confrontational. Lighten up. And maybe the article was changed AFTER D1 wrote his comment.
Like dislike 6 people liked / 3 people disliked this comment
jacksprat
Post : 2,446
Send message

Discussion 4 : 05 Mar 2013 at 21.514
Post this to my Facebook
This reminds me of the McDonald's franchise going to court to force a family in the US to stop calling their small restaurant McDonald's, which really is their name and they had been doing since the 1930s.
Like dislike 12 people liked / 0 people disliked this comment
abbub
Post : 2,027
Send message

Discussion 3 : 05 Mar 2013 at 21.483
Post this to my Facebook
- "The US Hugo managed to sell only 3,000 copies of his CD. But he complained to the court that the Thai Hugo had caused confusion in the marketplace"

This sounds typically Thai. They will not play y the rules. It makes no difference how many CDs he sold.

Having said that the whole notion of copyrighting is, in my opinion monopoly of theft.
Like dislike 8 people liked / 5 people disliked this comment

1 2 Next Last

Hugo fined for name violation | Bangkok Post: news