Many reputed artists are being affected by new artists who are trying to become famous by mimicking their names. However, most of the offended choose to remain quiet.

Vietnamese-American singer-song writer Jimmii Nguyen, who was harmed by the scandal of Jinny Nguyen.

The local public was stirred recently by the news “singer Jinny Nguyen was accused of having sex with a child”. Many people mistook Jinny Nguyen for popular Vietnamese-American singer-song writer Jimmii Nguyen (Nguyen Dung Ngoc Long).

Jimmii Nguyen said his honour was seriously harmed by Jinny Nguyen’s scandal. After the local media reported that singer Jinny Nguyen or Nguyen Chi Canh was arrested for accusations of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, Jimmii Nguyen’s phone was ringing off the hook.

“I would hot have paid attention to this case if some overseas websites hadn’t attached my picture to the news about Jinny Nguyen,” said Jimmii Nguyen. “My family, my friends and my fans were very worried and they phoned me about the scandal. My mother called me from the US at 3am. She cried and asked me why I did that.”

Jimmii Nguyen is not the only one whose stage name has been mimicked. Many young singers in Vietnam are “hiding” themselves under the names of stars, by using similar stage names.

Many people say they have made mistakes. They have bought tickets for concerts and when they got to the show, it turned out not to be pop star Đàm Vĩnh Hưng, but a brand-new singer, Đàm Vĩnh Hùng. Kim Lệ Quyên has no connection with the popular singer Lệ Quyên, Lâm Chí Vĩ is not Lâm Chí Vỹ, Nhật Kim Anh is different from Nhật Tinh Anh and Cao Mỹ Tâm is not pop star Mỹ Tâm.

Such shows are often organised only once in a location so the audience, though angry, can do nothing.

Actually, there are some cases in which some singers by chance have names similar to the names of famous artists, for example singer Dan Truong and Lam Truong, Pham Thanh Thao and Thanh Thao, Nguyen Ngoc Anh and Ngoc Anh. The coincidence doesn’t make them happy but more worried. These singers have tried their best to escape from the shadow of their senior singers to become famous.

Most of the “stars” whose names are imitated keep quiet because imitation has become a trend and they don’t have a foundation to sue unless their names are harmed by scandals.

Four years ago, singer Đàm VÄ©nh Hùng (Thế VÅ© or Võ Hoài Anh) who specialised in singing at wedding parties and parks, illegally used pop star Đàm VÄ©nh HÆ°ng’s songs. He called the pop star, asking for permission to sing like him. Đàm VÄ©nh Hùng also stuck posters which were the same as the pop star’s posters on the streets. The scandal ended with an apology from Đàm VÄ©nh Hùng.

In the case of Jinny Nguyen, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Pham Dinh Thang said the ministry cannot intervene in this case because the two names are different.

Dr. Vu Manh Chu, chief of the Agency for Literature and Art Copyright, said Vietnamese law doesn’t stipulate protection of personal names.

Jimmii Nguyen said in the US, the names of famous singers are not protected but their albums are the evidence of their brands. They can sue their imitators and if the mimic singers cannot prove that their albums appeared in the market before the suitors, they have to compensate them.

VietNamNet/VNE