The government religious authority said it will send a complaint to one of the world’s top brands for using an image of a revered Thai monk on its garments without permission.
After U.S. skateboarding lifestyle brand Supreme’s new Spring/Summer collection included a top emblazoned with the image of the late Luang Por Khun squatting and smoking and encircled by mystical yant script, Thailand’s National Office of Buddhism and Wat Ban Rai, where the monk was abbot, complained they were never contacted by the brand for permission. Luang Por Khun died in 2015.
The office’s Sipboworn Kaewngam said the letter would address Supreme’s “misappropriation” of the Luang Pho Khun image, which was taken in the early 2000s and sold on printed cloths to raise funds for the temple located in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
Tawatchai Sanprasit, a manager at the temple, said he and the temple’s committee didn’t receive any written request from Supreme to use the image.
Tawatchai said he will discuss further and decide what action could be taken against the New York-based brand. “We will discuss the issue and find out what the brand’s purpose is,” Tawatchai said.
A relative of the late monk also weighed in. Boonterd Wongkanchanarat, Luang Por Koon’s nephew, said the brand was wrong to print a “sacred” item on a commercial product.
“If it’s for a public event for a good cause, I wouldn’t object,” Boonterd said. “But this is a clothing brand, a private business, and they didn’t even ask for our permission to use it.”
While it’s uncertain what legal recourse might be available, top intellectual property official Wuttikrai Leeweerapan said this morning that the image is considered a creative work and therefore a work of intellectual property that belongs to the temple.
Wuttikrai said that if Wat Ban Rai has proof it created the Luang Por Koon image along with the yant scripts that appear on the Supreme shirts, it would hold the rights to it for 50 years after creating it under international convention.
Luang Por Khun, aka Khun Parissuddho, was born in Nakhon Ratchasima in 1923. He began studying Buddhism at 6, entered the monkhood when he was 10 and wa a strict practitioner of dharma. The monk became a cult icon among Thai Buddhists who admire him for his down-to-earth lifestyle and ability to deliver Buddhist teachings in easy-to-understand messages. Amulets made with Luang Por Khun’s blessings are believed to harbor supernatural powers.
Luang Por Khun died on May 14, 2015, after suffering from tuberculosis and other complications for years. He was 91. He donated his body to Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Medicine for study.
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