Johnny Cupcakes, a Massachusetts-based t-shirt company with a huge cult following, is waging a war against South Korean t-shirt company Benny FryingPan for copying Johnny Cupcakes’ original designs. Ku Seung-Bum, the owner of Benny FryingPan, has also been unsuccessfully trying to register the Johnny Cupcakes name and logo in Korea for some time now.
In addition to working with the authorities, Johnny Cupcakes has uploaded screenshots of the Benny FryingPan website on his blog with captions in English and Korean, as well as a photo and contact information for Ku Seung-Bum.
We just had someone arrested and sent to jail in Thailand for doing the same thing. What makes you think we can’t get you in Korea? The police and detectives in Korea know who you are, and they’re watching you, Mr. Ku. We have plenty of information to get you in trouble with the law. You are not safe. You will be punished.
Knock-offs are far from uncommon, (anyone remember the epic Puma/Pama shirts?) but it is sad how blatant the copies are. And while Johnny Cupcakes is a popular company, it’s a far cry from the high fashion brands that are usually targeted.
What do you guys think?
Does Johnny Cupcake’s blog post go too far, or is he justified in his actions?
FOR ONLY $28!
Featured Event
It’s the new year, and Yim Jae Beum is coming to town! After a sold-out show in Los Angeles last October, he is coming back to hold two U.S. concerts for the 2012 Lunar New Year. Everyone already knows this man can sing! He’s got an impressive resume, debuting as a rock singer back in 1986, releasing Korean classics, such as “For You,” and most recently, joining and winning first place twice on the MBC show, “I am a Singer.”
Seattle and New Jersey, get ready! We are happy to announce that we will be giving away TWO (2) pairs of tickets! read more
LINKS
Featuring Recent Posts Wordpress Widget development by YD
14
FOBforce1 says:
2010-07-08 at 12:49 AM
pamela says: omfg. who gives a rats ass what your lame internet fights are about. step one GET A LIFE.
If you had one, you wouldn’t respond.
….you responded to this post too you stupid fuck hahaha
JC isn’t being out of line at all, he’s a designer, he spends much of his time and work building up this business. Then to have some dude with no originality, come along and try to steal his work? It’s blasphemy! Especially, the part about him trying to register Johnny Cupcakes name. What was he thinking? That he’d open up shop as JOHNNY CUPCAKES in Korea? Someone needs to teach him a little more about integrity and copyright infringement. I guess he didn’t care, he just stole his way into this Benny Fryingpan thing. I hope he gets caught and jailed. If it were my work, I’d want justice!! JC FTW!
Its a blatant copy of Johnnys Work and a bad one at that , the lines in the cupcake and the off coloring are noticeable very noticeable im surprised they let him get that close to copying Johnny Cupcakes. once a shirt is gone its gone on the brand its gone, this guy benny should go to prison, johnny is right in what he said. there was little he could do when it came to the situation with urban outfitters because its such a big company but no benny frying pan should not get away with this.
urban outfitters also tried copying much of johnny cupcakes designs…
i remember hearing about this brand back in the days when he would roll with the band “on broken wing”
hes really come a long way since then!
pamela says: omfg. who gives a rats ass what your lame internet fights are about. step one GET A LIFE.
If you had one, you wouldn’t respond.
omfg. who gives a rats ass what your lame internet fights are about. step one GET A LIFE.
screw that. it doesnt even matter who stole his ideas, the fact is they stole them. it could of been some one in usa, who cares! hes worked so hard to get where he is. he started from the trunk of his car people!
i dont think it matters if hes korean or Chinese or dutch. this guy needs to be taught a lesson cause its not cool just to copyright shit.
@js718, not to get into a pissing contest, but it’s obvious you’re insulated. Your world is myopic, you lack foresight and can’t see patterns in society. I’m not pandering a race war, nor am I anti-Semitic.
When Tony’s Fish market in Redondo Beach, CA was announced to close 2 years ago, and be taken over by new owners, a barrage of racist comments against Koreans were spewed on Topix. I didn’t know that so many people envied and hated Koreans. This incident and others are what I tie into the phenomenon of “Koreans copying.” Enlighten yourself, read comments about Koreans taking over Little Tokyo, Los Angeles; Forever 21′s empire and how labor-activists vilify them, read about the Red Apple Boycott during the late 80s, the Latasha Harlins incident, etc.
When I took an Asian-American history class in college, a few of the non-Korean Asians, namely Japanese-Americans and ABC Chinese students, made some snide comments about Koreans during the socratics like, “Koreans only hang out with each other; they’re sassy and talk too much; they’re loud and act ghetto; I’m not gonna even bother reaching out to them…” This all occurred while the weasel ass Japanese-American prof. who ran this class saliently demonstrated his indifference while gloating; he didn’t bother to intervene when it got ugly. That motherphucker acted like a daytime trash-TV host. Phuck Asian-American unity. Other Asians hate Koreans nowadays–so wake up. Everyone hates us because we copy their idea and ride it out till it’s dead. We’re culture killers.
sorry my comment about businesses that copy each other and compete was in response to novelidea. It’s getting off topic though and doesn’t really relate to the article
don’t compare us to Jews, this isn’t some sort of race olympics.
Forming a business on an existing idea is not a culture killer. Usually it’s how improvements are made, people take ideas and build on them. If it’s just a trend than it doesn’t matter how many businesses copies there are it it will go out of style on it’s own.
As for the Johnny cupcakes thing, they’re doing what they should to protect their designs. And as much as I love the name Benny fryingpan Mr. Ku needs to go away and embarrassing himself.
makes you realize the fact it has the word frying pan is a way to make him remember how he got his name.hahaha
@derek & jstele
You can rationalize all you want, like “when there’s a market out there that doesn’t have a problem with their product (which is equally to blame, if we’re blaming anybody.” I hope you know, that many people other than Japanese have some spiteful sentiment against Korean biz owners. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous to think that customers of these Korean-run sushi-eats or other “non-authenic” businesses don’t harbor feelings of resentment/racism. A lot of them are no longer customers by choice.
I read plenty of comments by people on non-Asian threads of how they despise Korean people who run these businesses in the manner of “the Koreans they run all the fish stores on the pier, they open sushi restaurants all over, it doesn’t offer the same quality or authenticity as real Japanese-run places; they’re rude, can’t speak English and are very curt in demeanor….”
You can bet I defended my people, by responding like, “nobody put you under durress to patronize their businesses, if you don’t like them, then don’t go.” And of course they responded like, “Korean people stink of BO, their breath stinks of garlic, that nasty crap they eat kimchi or whatevers is rotted cabbage that only savages eat; they eat dogs, who knows, they prolly use dog meat in the dishes of these restaurants; go back to Korea you flat-faced gook…”
In K-town, it’s safe ground. Most customers are Korean. But when it’s a white suburb, even the whites despise the Korean biz’s. We Koreans are like Jews, we’re economically succesful in foreign countries, and the incumbent people despise us. We break unwritten rules (like expanding too quickly w/ knock-off businesses), and we will suffer like Jews–mark my words.
I side with @jstele, people are simply taking advantage of an economic opportunity in a time where there aren’t that many. As for Kogi->Kalbi & the ubiquitous berry fro-yo shop, that’s always the way trends have spread into the mainstream (albeit much faster now, thanks internetz), and most importantly, I don’t think it hinders future innovations. Call it a culture-killer if you want, but I can’t bash some knock-off Korean-owned sushi restaurant when there’s a market out there that doesn’t have a problem with their product (which is equally to blame, if we’re blaming anybody)
I do think Johnny Cupcakes is doing the right thing here by making as big a noise as possible. There’s a lot of power in appealing to the sense of authenticity and originality, even when there are dozens of imitators (when I want Korean tacos I always go Kogi).
Well, Koreans do not copy as much as novelidea would like to believe regardless of whether she is “Korean”. And those Japanese places are not copying. It’s not like Koreans are claiming them as Korean restaurants. A lot of Koreans like Japanese food, so people are just taking advantage of that opportunity.
I agree w/ everyone but liz. How can you (liz) rationalize theft of intellectual property? I agree w/ redbully about Koreans being putative for knocking off every other business, fashion, and cultural endeavor…and sadly, they cannibalize each other (Kalbi from Kogi); the godammn psuedo-Japanese themed, sushi places that are so ubiquitous all over S. Cali and perhaps other regions of the country–I can’t stand those crappy wannabe Japanese eateries! Oh yeah, berry-this, berry-that fro-yo fad, that shyt needs to stop too. I don’t understand how Koreans, not all, but sadly a majority, rationalize the theft of others’ ideas and blatantly claim it’s theirs. Copying something to make a quick buck out of it just kills the trend quicker, i.e. it becomes passe too soon. Don’t be a culture killer.
I’m Korean btw, and I’m not here to berate my own peoples.
@Liz. Thats not imitation, thats theft.
Ku Seung-Bum is literally trying to make money by stealing the designer’s original designs and international presence. He has even been trying to steal the NAME of his brand.
I don’t think the designer’s posts are out of line. Its HIS hard work and designs at stake. He has to be firm and go after those who would ruin his business with fakes and hinder his ability to market internationally with his own name and original merchandise.
If that means being particularly harsh in their “outing” of the *criminal*, so be it.
Extreme Public Humiliation and discrediting can leave a lasting impression. And make them high profile and easily noticeable should they try similar to another company or designer in the future.
Maybe in jail Ku Seung-Bum will discover originality.
isnt imitation the best form of flattery? he needs to chilll
Ku Seung-Bum needs to stop perpetuating the stereotype that Koreans have no original thought….Kalbi taco trucks and every other yogurt stand with the word “berry”…thinks he should be ashamed of himself.