SHE’S the outspoken founder of one of Australia’s most iconic homegrown takeaways.
But Nahji Chu has been forced to defend the use of her own face and name, after losing the Miss Chu Vietnamese tuckshop chain she founded and after signing over the rights to its brand.
Miss Chu went into administration in 2014 with debts of more than $4 million, and was bought out by the Laos-born immigrant’s business partner Gabriel Machado.
The former refugee, who is set to appear on an episode of SBS Insight tonight about the impact of her business failure, has moved on with catering service Lady Chu while working on plans to launch a sous vide product called Chu’s Just Add Water.
Now lawyers acting for Mr Machado’s interests have sent her a threatening legal letter, warning that she must not use her surname or an image of her that appears in the Miss Chu brand — arguing that to do so is an authorised use of the trademark he now owns, along with the humorous slogan she penned: “You Ling We Bling”.
“No other person or entity is licensed or authorised to use the Miss Chu trademarks and the You Ling We Bling trademark in Australia without the written authorisation of our client,” lawyers DC Strategy wrote in the letter, seen by news.com.au.
The 47-year-old businesswoman’s new tagline — the correctly-pronounced “You Rrring We Bring”, is “indisputably similar” to that used by Miss Chu, the letter continues.
It goes on to allege that the name “Lady Chu” is “very similar” to “Miss Chu”, and that “as a result, the concepts of the marks are identical”.
“Our client believes that this is likely to lead to confusion by consumers, particularly in light of your prior and highly publicised involvement with the Miss Chu restaurant business.”
But a defiant Ms Chu has vowed to press on, declaring: “I welcome the lawsuit.”
And, in a bizarre turn, the case could partially turn on the question of whether a company or individual can hold the rights to an official document, with Miss Chu’s brand featuring a scan of its founder’s refugee visa.
“Technically, he doesn’t own it, nor do I; the government owns it,” Ms Chu told news.com.au.
Despite the fact that she herself obtained a trademark of the brand created with an image taken from her visa document — issued by the Australian Embassy in Bangkok in 1978 — Ms Chu argues that it is incapable of being subject to intellectual property rights.
“The government could have at any time said ‘hey, by the way kiddo, that’s a refugee visa, you can’t trademark that,” she said, adding that marketing academics had contacted her about the “intriguing” composition of the brand.
“He doesn’t own the face, nor do I — it’s my face, and it will always be my surname,” she said.
“When you’re creative and original, people will always copy you and say they own it.”
Ms Chu, who is yet to engage lawyers to represent her in any court action, said she was not concerned about the dispute.
“I’m ignoring it, it’s not going to go anywhere,” she said, urging Mr Machado’s company to “go for it, I want them to — I’ll always win.”
Ms Chu said the image currently appearing in the Lady Chu brand did not look anything like the original photo from her visa.
“She’s gone punk, she doesn’t even have a face,” she said.
Once hailed as the Queen of Rice Paper Rolls, Ms Chu watched as her culinary empire fell apart in 2014, when the business was placed in voluntary administration after failing to reach an agreement with the Office of State Revenue to pay off a payroll tax debt.
What began as a catering business in her Balmain home in 2007 had grown to eight tuckshops in Sydney and Melbourne, plus an outlet in London, when disaster struck.
The collapse of the business came as Ms Chu was scaling up internationally ahead of a potential sale, and was devastating for the entrepreneur, who blamed “internal problems” and poor decisions by her management team.
“Of course I put everything on myself, everything that went wrong is my fault,” she said.
Miss Chu continues to trade in Melbourne under Mr Machado’s ownership. Its website continues to draw on Ms Chu’s unique history, naming her as its “founder and creative director” — a title she has not held since insolvency company Mawson Group sacked the outspoken refugee advocate in 2015 following her participation in a Marie Claire article titled “This is what a refugee looks like”.
The Miss Chu website describes the business as “fusion of an entire life experience” where “everything from the menu, to the interior design and decoration reflects the rich and complex history of Nahji’s life”, noting that menus and blackboards at its outlets are in her handwriting.
“Her early experiences at school, when she was struggling to learn a new language and culture, have become a central focus of the interior and service design of misschu venues,” it says of Ms Chu, recounting how she escaped the Pathet Laos regime with her father and brother, fleeing to a Thai refugee camp before settling in Australia.
More recently, after setting up and launching Bondi Junction yum cha hall Cha Li Boi this year, Ms Chu handed that venture over to investors to focus on her sous vide project, which she hopes to supply to wholesale clients such as airlines and gourmet grocers.
News.com.au has sought comment from Mr Machato, his legal team and the Department of Immigration.
Nahji Chu is a guest on tonight’s episode of Insight at 8.30pm on SBS, which looks at the concept of failure and bouncing back.
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