Andy Lau vs salted duck seller dispute resolved

BEIJING : Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau's management company, Topman Global Limited, released a statement Friday clarifying that it did not bring a law suit against 66-year-old Liu De Hua, the owner of the "Authentic Liu De Hua Pressed Salted Duck Shop" in Chongzhou, in China's Sichuan Province.

Along with an apology for causing any misunderstanding, the statement also said that Topman Global "only wished to prevent impersonation and confusion" and did not intend "to interfere in people using their own names or registering trademarks".

Lau's management company had earlier disputed Liu's application to register his shop's name, which contained the words 'Liu De Hua' - Lau's Mandarin name - as a trademark.

The management company previously claimed that people might be led to believe that Lau was "linked in some way" to Liu's shop and place "undue trust in the quality and origins of the product".

It further noted that associating Lau's name with pressed salted duck, waxed meats and sausages not only amounted to copyright infringement but "insulted and defamed Lau".

Topman Global's dispute with the elderly Liu had raised the ire of his regular patrons as well as Chinese netizens, who slammed the firm for bullying a helpless old man.

Liu had been operating his pressed salted duck shop for over 30 years. His is among the ten shops in Chongzhou that sell the Sichuan specialty, all of which take the name of their owners.

According to Liu's mother, Liu's birth name was actually Liu Jian Hua but somehow became erroneously registered as Liu De Hua.

"This name (Liu De Hua) is too high profile and makes people feel we are not honest," adding that they had actually lost a lot of business because of the name.

Liu himself lamented that companies refused to hire him in his earlier years because of his showy name while many of his previous girlfriends tried to change it.

In populous China, numerous people share identical Mandarin names with celebrities.

Chinese police records showed that there are 17 people who share Edison Chen's name, seven who share Gillian Chung's name and 686 people named Liu De Hua in the Chinese city of Chongqing alone.

Andy Lau bullies duck shop owner

Hong Kong 'heavenly king' Andy Lau has been slammed for bullying an elderly man in Sichuan, China.

The 68-year-old man, who owns a restaurant in Chongzhou, Sichuan, is named Liu Dehua.

His name in Chinese is the same as that of the singer which was why he almost lost his trademark - the Authentic Liu Dehua Pressed Salted Duck Shop.

Last week, Lau's agent in China had issued a letter to the restaurant owner for alleged infringement of copyright and defamation of Andy Lau.

The letter also called on Liu to remove the restaurant signage which has the words 'Liu De Hua'.

This triggered much anger among the locals, especially regular customers of the restaurant that has been in business for 30 years.

Liu started his business in 1980 when Lau was still using his given name of Lau Fook-wing.

Pressed Salted Duck is a specialty in Sichuan and in the small town of Chongzhou alone, there are more than 10 restaurants selling this delicacy.

All the shops are named after their owners.

Liu's daughter had in an interview with Xinhua Agency said that her father was much saddened by the letter's contents.

"My father opened this shop in 1980 using his own name. It has got nothing to do with Andy Lau.

"We have no intention to make use of Andy's name to attract more business," she said.

The intellectual property rights firm entrusted by Lau's company to supervise the trademark issue had on Friday issued a statement to say that they had withdrawn the case against the duck shop.

Andy Lau gathered 300 celebs to raise fund Qinghai victims

Stars from the three Chinese regions gather to raise funds for the Qinghai earthquake tragedy

Sun Nan, Andy Lau and Jackie Chan.

Heavenly King Andy Lau led a nearly 300-strong band of stars from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China to raise more than HK$25 million (S$4.4 million) for the Qinghai earthquake victims on Monday.

Held at the Hong Kong Coliseum, the fundraiser was attended by superstars like Jackie Chan and took just an hour to hit the HK$9 million (S$1.6 million) mark.

With the exception of Aaron Kwok, who could not leave Beijing where he is currently filming, the famed Heavenly Kings of Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai and Andy lent their support.

One of the highlights of the show was veteran entertainer Kenny Bee's touching acoustic performance with his young daughter.

Alan Tam, nicknamed the "Principal" for his seniority, even said, "I'll do anything I'm asked to do. I can be the runner or answer the phone (donation call-ins)."

Stars like Max Mok, Simon Yam, Ekin Cheng and the Hsu sisters (Barbie and Dee) related their experiences visiting the disaster-hit region, while media bigwig Sir Run Run Shaw also made his presence felt by donating HK$10 million (S$1.8 million).

The charity gala saw 7,000 people in the audience, of which 1,000 were last-minute additions. This greatly helped the fundraising efforts as each member of the audience was required to chip in at least HK$100 (S$17).

An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude struck the Yushu region in northwest China's Qinghai Province on 14 Apr. More than 2,000 have been confirmed dead, with recent reports saying there could be many more.