We won the lawsuit. @thetiramisuhero #longpost 2018 had truly been a tumultuous year for The Tiramisu Hero.    One fine day in 2018, we were informed by our franchisee in Japan that our brand “The Tiramisu Hero” had been willfully trademarked by another company, who later sent them a lawyer letter ‘encouraging’ them to cease the use of the brand name to avoid possible legal disputes.     At that point of time, The Tiramisu Hero had had a presence in Japan for several years (but the brand was only trademarked in Singapore region).    It led to a whole clusterfuck (pardon my French) of disputes, and we had to operate under the temporary name of “The Tiramisu Star” in Japan to continue serving our desserts while the lawsuit was on.   Because of the scrutiny of the case, we also got into disputes for plagiarism of some old artwork that we created way back about almost 8 years ago when the brand was new (i.e. when we were super uninformed and ignorant about IP rights. One word - stupid. Period). We got people calling us out as copycats who have “no rights to call others copycats”.     It was really saddening because we knew it was undoubtedly our fault to reference artwork without knowing what's acceptable and what’s too much. We were amateurs, and foolish. We issued an official apology and removed all traces of any disputed artworks, and dealt with the backlash of our mistakes all while facing this hot mess over in Japan.   What we went through in Japan was not a mere “copycat” case. To be entirely honest, we did not care that they sold tiramisu in jars and had a mascot, brand name and product that looks similar to ours, but this company also went ahead to trademark our brand name and ORIGINAL logo/artwork, AND thereafter taunted our Japanese counterpart and various Japanese departmental stores we were working with then to not work with us to avoid legal disputes.    They opened their flagship in the upscale Omotesandō district, and engaged celebrities to endorse their brand. (continues in comments section)

Thank you South China Morning Post and Vincenzo La Torre for the wonderful write up on Fashion's Ageism. A real woman(or man) to me, is a fearless individual who owns all of you, who isn't afraid to be real and that to me is POWER. Youn Yuh-Jung is definitely one-of-a-kind. I hope more men and women will have the POWER to be FEARLESS, instead of living under the scrutiny of social media, fearing rejection and trying hard to not be themselves in order to prove their worth. People judge all the time but it takes sheer Courage to be YOU. Brands talk about Diversity these days but not puting real man/woman on their campaigns. We still have a long way to go.... Photo / Morgan H Jewellery / Tiffany & Co. T Collection #Diversity #Ageism #YounYuhJung

I still remember a 13 y/o scrawny Natalie hitting @thebodyshop to get bronzer✨ so I could look like Rihanna in the SOS 🎵vid. Safe to say, my first introduction to the world of skin/self-care was through @thebodyshopmalaysia. Over the years, it’s become clear #TheBodyShop was not your ordinary beauty brand, but an institution that’s continuously fought for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, no animal testing, sustainability, etc. Activism is in their DNA & they’ve never shied away from having difficult discussions about such issues, even the ones sensitive to our culture. I’m so honoured to be a Leading Light (LL) & one of the faces of this meaningful & much needed #SelfLoveUprising ⚡️campaign. Couldn’t have come at a better time. With the pandemic, lockdowns & surge in internet use, young #Malaysians are turning to social media to express themselves. But the compounded stress & uncertainty has increased online violence, with many falling victim to pressure & scrutiny over how they act, dress & speak. #SelfLoveUprising is a reminder to take that extra 5 minutes in your day to remind yourself what you’re made of & that you shouldn’t have to conform to what others want you to be. If you’re not causing irreparable harm, NO ONE should be able to tell you what you can do, who you can love or what you can wear. Read more about the campaign & what the LLs have to say in my bio link! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜