“Young Tak demands 15 billion won” False exposure.. Yecheon Brewing defamation and threats ‘guilty'[comprehensive]

[Star News | [Reporter Sang-geun Yoon]

The representative of a makgeolli manufacturer who engaged in a trademark dispute with trot singer Young Tak by exposing false information, saying, “He asked for 15 billion won in modeling fees,” was sentenced to prison.

On the 17th, Criminal Division 8 of the Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Mr. Baek, CEO of Yecheon Brewing, a makgeolli manufacturer, to six months in prison and one year of probation, who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation). The court also sentenced the same sentence to Mr. Cho, the Seoul branch manager of Yecheon Brewing, who was also indicted on charges of defamation and threats.

Mr. Baek, Mr. Cho, etc. announced to the media that negotiations with Yeongtak for use of trademark rights and model renewal had broken down in relation to ‘Yeongtak Makgeolli’ manufactured and sold by Yecheon Brewing, thereby publicizing false facts about the negotiation process. He was indicted on one charge and brought to trial.

As a result of the investigation, it was revealed that Mr. Cho threatened Young Tak that he would report facts related to the non-renewal of the contract to the media. In addition, Mr. Baek paid the cost of the exorcism by having Young Tak’s mother say, “If you don’t wrap the pig’s head in newspaper and bury it, the company will go out of business,”and after the failure of the contract with Young Tak and the conflict became known, fans organized an organized boycott. It was also claimed that some dealerships went out of business and sales decreased.

However, the court pointed out that such claims by CEO Baek and others were false and judged that they had conducted a false interview as if they had interfered with Yecheon Brewing’s trademark registration, even though CEO Baek was aware that they had discussed with Young Tak not approval for trademark registration but approval for use. The court also determined that Young Tak’s mother never forced him to eat a “pig head”and that there was no organized boycott by fans.

The court said, “Mr. Baek and others defamed and threatened Young Tak’s mother by cleverly mixing facts from trademark negotiations or meetings with false facts and publicizing it to the media and the public as if abuse of power had occurred.””He suffered considerable mental suffering, including criticism from the public,” the ruling said.

Yecheon Brewing recorded sales of around 100 million won as of 2019, and achieved sales of over 5 billion won the following year after signing an exclusive model contract with Youngtak. The court believed that the reason Baek published false information to the media was because he desperately needed a contract extension as he had built a new factory after rapid growth in sales.

Meanwhile, Yeongtak’s side received a partial ruling in favor of some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed against Yecheon Brewing in July 2023 for a ban on the use of the Yeongtak Makgeolli trademark, and all cases filed by Yecheon Brewing on charges of false accusation, obstruction of business, and defamation were dismissed or acquitted. received.

Reporter Sang-geun Yoon sgyoon@