Hotel giant Hilton files lawsuit over naming rights

Hotel giant, Hilton has filed a law suit against a motel in Busan, Korea's second largest city after Seoul, for the usage of their brand name.

News reports said HLT International, which owns Hilton's hotels internationally, recently took legal action against a Korean motel owner, surname Yoon, for usage of the name "Hilton."

Yoon runs a motel named "Hilton Motel" in Busan, and HLT demanded that the motel owner's right to use the name should be rejected and the business should pay an indemnity of $25,441 (about 30 million won).

According to the reports, HLT told the Seoul Central District Court that the company registered both "Hilton" and "" (in Korean) as trademarks, which therefore gives them exclusive trademark rights.

The company asserted that Yoon interfered with operating profits and violated laws to prevent unfair competition.

HLT has acknowledged that there are numerous numbers of lodging businesses in Korea that illegally use the trademark, and they plans to work through each individual case.

In fact, another motel business that used the trademark in Dong-gu, Busan, recently made the decision to change its name to "Hill Motel" when the issue of trademark rights arose.