The court ruled that "New Jeans members should not engage in independent activities as they belong to the entertainment agency ADOR."
On the 21st, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Agreement Division 50 (Chief Justice Kim Sang-hoon) granted an injunction filed by ADOR against the five members of New Jeans regarding the 'protection of agency status and prohibition on entering into advertising contracts.' According to the court's decision, New Jeans members cannot conduct activities as musicians, such as songwriting, composing, performing, and vocals, nor participate in broadcasts, events, negotiate advertising contracts, or engage in various commercial activities independently without prior approval or consent from ADOR.
The court noted that "if the mutual trust between the parties to the contract is broken, the artist can terminate the exclusive contract, but based on the claims and materials presented so far by New Jeans, it has not been proven that ADOR has violated any significant obligations under the exclusive contract or that the mutual trust has been irreparably destroyed."
The court also stated that "it cannot be concluded that a gap in producing work for New Jeans has occurred solely due to the dismissal of ADOR's former representative (Min Hee-jin) or that ADOR lacks the plans or capabilities to perform its duties." It continued, "Even if ADOR was somewhat insufficient in fulfilling its obligations under the exclusive contract, it has not been confirmed that there has been no correction of New Jeans' demands or that ADOR's breach of obligation has persisted for an extended period."
Earlier, in August of last year, Min Hee-jin, the former representative of ADOR who planned New Jeans, was dismissed as the representative of ADOR after a conflict with the parent company HYBE. Consequently, on November 29 of the same year, the five members of New Jeans notified ADOR of their intention to terminate the exclusive contract. In December of the same year, ADOR filed a lawsuit in the Seoul Central District Court to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract with New Jeans.
However, New Jeans members changed their group name to "NJZ," stating they would continue independent activities. In response, ADOR filed for an injunction in January requesting that "the members of New Jeans be prevented from entering into advertising contracts independently without consulting the company." Subsequently, ADOR expanded the request for the injunction to include a ban on New Jeans' entertainment activities.
Meanwhile, it is reported that ADOR did not request the imposition of a coercive fine when filing this injunction. A coercive fine is a type of penalty applied when a court decision is not implemented. This means that if New Jeans performs without consulting ADOR, they would incur a fine for each occurrence. However, the coercive fine can only be requested to be imposed by the parties after the court's decision has been made and they fail to comply with that decision.