South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled on the naming and trademark status of yangnyeom chicken in 1997. The decision concluded a legal dispute over whether “yangnyeom” could function as a protected brand name.
The issue arose because yangnyeom is a descriptive Korean word meaning “seasoned” or “seasoning.” In the context of chicken, it identifies a preparation style rather than necessarily pointing to one company or restaurant. That distinction made the term commercially important as Korean fried-chicken businesses expanded.
The dispute was argued in South Korean courts during the 1990s and culminated in a Supreme Court ruling dated February 5, 1997. The case is commonly cited in histories of yangnyeom chicken because it connects the dish’s culinary rise with the legal question of who could claim exclusive rights to its name.
The year can be confused with other milestones in the dish’s history. Yangnyeom chicken’s development and commercialization occurred earlier, while the 1997 date specifically refers to the Supreme Court decision about the name and trademark issue—not the invention of the recipe or the founding of a chicken chain.