[Japan Flag, Credit to Public Domain Pictures]

A new product from Nissin Foods, a Japanese ramen company, caused controversy as it was accused of imitating South Korean food company, Samyang Foods’s Buldak Bokkeum Myun. 

On April 11th, Nissin Foods added a new product called “Nissin Yakisoba Stir-fried Noodles - Korean Style Sweet and Spicy Carbo” on the product list on the company website. 

This new Korean-style stir-fried noodle from Nissin Foods shares many similarities to the Buldak Bokkeum Myun made by Samyang Foods. 

First, the product name is written in Korean on the outside of Nissin's 'Fried Noodles'. 

The word “Bokkeum Myun” is written in Korean on the packaging of the product. 

In addition, there were several similarities of the packaging design. 

The packaging of the Nissin Foods’s product is the same shade of pink as Samyang Foods’s Buldak Bokkeum Myun, Carbonara flavor. 

Also, the font color of the product name was written in red for both products. 

The plagiarism controversy did not end with the packaging design, however. 

A release material from Nissin describes their product this way : “Addictive flavor of red pepper paste and the softness of cheese. Sweet and spicy carbo taste, a hot topic in Korea”

Opinions are emerging that this product description also reminds Samyang's Buldak Bokkeum Myun. 

As similarities between the two products continue to be discovered, people are pointing out that there’s a possibility that Nissin plagiarized Samyang Foods’s Buldak Bokkeum Myun. 

The imitation controversy seems to be growing since Nissin Foods is considered to be the biggest company in the Japanese ramen industry.

Nissin is famous for making the instant noodles (1958) and cup noodles (1971) for the first time in the world.

Samyang is also aware of this imitation controversy. 

According to the Samyang Food official, Samyang has reviewed legal countermeasures against Nissin Foods. 

However, they found it difficult to proceed into the actual legal process since the product name is different.

When the name of the product is different, it makes it harder to win the trademark lawsuits. 

Samyang announced that they are seeking various countermeasures in relation to the prevention of unfair competition, other than conducting an actual lawsuit against Nissin. 

Regarding future marketing strategies for Buldak Bokkeum Myun in Japan, Samyang officials have stated that “Samyang Foods holds the trademark rights for 'Buldak Bokkeum Myun' (Both in Korean and Japanese ) in Japan so we are planning to develop marketing activities that emphasize uniqueness as much as possible.”

Buldak Bokkeum Myun is currently popular all around the world, attracting attention from many social media platforms including Tik Tok, Instagram and Youtube. 

Due to its sensational popularity, the recent Nissin incident is not the first controversy over the imitation of Buldak Bokkeum Myun. 

Previously, in China, a product that imitated the Buldak Bokkeum Myun has been controversial for imitation.

Placement of photos of food, black background, and even the chicken characters on the packaging were very similar.

They even copied the name “Buldak Bokkeum Myun” itself. 

At the end of 2021, along with the Korea Food Industry Association, Samyang Foods ended up filing an intellectual property right lawsuit against companies producing and distributing counterfeit goods in China.