On the 21st, the court halted NewJeans, who were seeking new entertainment activities under the name 'NJZ,' because the evidence presented by NewJeans claiming contract termination did not sufficiently substantiate the breakdown of the trust relationship.
Therefore, NewJeans must return to ADOR, and independent activities or entertainment activities through a third agency are prohibited.
NewJeans revealed the new group name NJZ on February 7 and has been signaling an effective 're-debut' by announcing a new song to be presented at the ComplexCon stage in Hong Kong on the 23rd.
ADOR stated, "Now that we have legally confirmed our status as NewJeans' agency, we will take full responsibility for supporting the artist in the future," adding that they plan to provide sufficient support at this weekend's ComplexCon performance under the name of NewJeans affiliated with ADOR.
However, NewJeans noted that they will contest this by supplementing the evidence as much as possible through objections. They emphasized that they will clarify once again that the contract was legally terminated at the hearing scheduled for April 3 in the main lawsuit confirming the validity of the exclusive contract.
Given the conflicting positions of both sides, there are speculations that at ComplexCon, they may take the stage under the names of the members instead of NJZ or NewJeans.
Legal circles are commenting that this is a 'rational ruling that upheld the value of exclusive contracts for entertainers.'
◇ The court did not recognize most of NewJeans' reasons for contract termination
On the 21st, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sang-hoon) accepted the request for prohibition of 'preservation of agency status and prohibition of entering into advertising contracts' filed by ADOR against the members of NewJeans.
The court did not recognize most of the reasons for contract termination that NewJeans asserted.
First, regarding the demand for the return of former ADOR representative Min Hee-jin, the court pointed out that ADOR has sufficient capacity to recruit a substitute producer and noted that there is no mention of Min Hee-jin as a producer in the exclusive contract.
Regarding the music industry report that includes the phrase 'discard New,' it noted that it is difficult to consider it as a document stating 'I will discard NewJeans' when viewed in context, and it appears to suggest that classifying 'NewJeans, IVE, LE SSERAFIM' as 'BLACKPINK, LE SSERAFIM, aespa, IVE' would be necessary as part of HYBE's strategy for the success of another affiliated girl group (Source Music), LE SSERAFIM.
Concerning NewJeans member Hanni's claim that she heard the statement 'ignore' from an Ailid manager of Belift Lab, it was stated that 'it is difficult to conclude that the statement (ignore) was actually heard; considering that on the same day, Hanni sent an English KakaoTalk message to Min Hee-jin mentioning that three members of Ailid greeted her uncomfortably or stiffly, it seems that they greeted her, and there is video evidence from HYBE's closed-circuit (CCTV) showing these three members bowing while greeting, thus it was not sufficiently substantiated that Hanni heard a statement that infringed upon her personal rights.'
The claim that Ailid plagiarized NewJeans was also deemed difficult to substantiate based on the submitted materials, and even if they did replicate the concept, it appeared ambiguous whether this would fall under the scope of intellectual property protection.
◇ Legal circles confirm that the legal principle protecting the value of exclusive contracts for entertainers has been upheld
In relation to the claim that they caused destruction of results by creating conflict with the Dolphin Kidnapping Group, which produced numerous popular music videos for NewJeans, the court ruled that the ownership and intellectual property rights of the outputs belong to ADOR. It also clarified that outputs produced through contracts with ADOR cannot be disseminated or posted online without prior consent. Additionally, the PR representative's request for correction of NewJeans album sales figures was seen as correcting factual information that affects stock prices.
In November of last year, all members of NewJeans held a press conference declaring the termination of their exclusive contract, citing that ADOR had not fulfilled its obligations as an agency, such as dismissing Min Hee-jin from her position as CEO.
In response, ADOR stated that the contract with NewJeans remains valid and filed for a prohibition of 'preservation of agency status and prohibition of entering into advertising contracts,' arguing that attempts to contract advertising without going through the agency could cause confusion to third parties. Subsequently, when NewJeans announced their performance plans in Hong Kong, ADOR extended the application to include additional activity prohibitions.
Attorney Kim Jin-wook (Juwon Law Firm) commented that this ruling is a provisional decision confirming that 'exclusive contracts for entertainers, which are validly concluded with remaining contract periods, must be upheld if the breakdown of the trust relationship cannot be proven.'