Mat Yeung in hot soup after his restaurant runs into copyright issues

Hong Kong actor Mat Yeung’s stewed soup restaurant chain, STEW, hasn’t exactly been doing well recently.

Last year, the actor was forced to make a statement clarifying his stance on the Hong Kong protests after it was reported that the Wan Chai branch of STEW had put up posters supporting the protests.

Now, it appears that the actor has gotten himself into another fix. Netizens have claimed that his outlet located in Lai Chi Kok is operating without a proper license, and just yesterday (January 22), the stewed soup chain was accused of illegally using the name of famed Thai restaurant, Blue Elephant to market one of their dishes.

As it turns out, one of the dishes listed on STEW’s menu is named Blue Elephant Yellow Curry with Beef Tendon And Rice. To make matters worse, posters promoting the dish, as well as the picture on the menu itself includes Blue Elephant’s logo.

An anonymous patron of STEW who snapped pictures of the dish then contacted the Hong Kong and Macau brand representative for Blue Elephant, who swiftly released a statement.

The statement, which was posted online, shared that Mat’s restaurant, STEW, had used the Thai brand’s logo and name without authorisation to market their own dishes, infringing the copyright of Blue Elephant. They then demanded for STEW to remove all material containing Blue Elephant’s logo from their marketing materials within two weeks, failing which, legal action will be taken.

When reached for a comment, Mat shared that he was aware of the issue, and that he had received an email from the Hong Kong and Macau brand representative for Blue Elephant. After receiving the email, he had immediately instructed all his staff to take down all posters containing Blue Elephant’s logo.

The actor also shared that they did not set out to intentionally mislead customers, and that STEW had only wanted to share that the dish in question was prepared using sauces purchased from Blue Elephant.

Mat also shared that he hopes to be able to continue serving the dish in STEW.

“However, if (Blue Elephant) does not want us to continue doing so, we will find alternatives and use other sauces instead,” he said.

Photos: PBE Media