Broadcaster Kim Eo-jun, who presents “Kim Eo-jun's Humility Is Hard: News Factory,” faced a complaint alleging a violation of the Trademark Act.
As reported in January 2023, a complaint alleged that Kim Eo-jun's use of “News Factory” in his YouTube program title violated the Trademark Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
TBS filed applications for “TBS News Factory Weekend Special” and “TBS News Factory” in June 2022 and obtained registrations on 13 October 2022, according to this report.
<TBS registered mark; designated services include radio broadcasting>
The complaint alleged that Kim used a mark similar to TBS's registered mark without authorization and reproduced the studio presentation in a way that generated unfair benefits. These were allegations in the complaint, not findings of infringement by a court.
The article noted that Kim's trademark application followed TBS's registration and anticipated a possible refusal based on TBS's earlier mark. That was a prediction at the time of publication, not a reported final decision.
The dispute illustrates why YouTube creators should consider trademark clearance and protection for their channel names.
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