NewJeans Members' Appeal Against Exclusive Activity Ban Dismissed by Court

Members of the K-pop girl group NewJeans have had their appeal against a court's injunction prohibiting independent activities dismissed.

The Seoul High Court's Civil Division 25-2 (Presiding Judges Hwang Byung-ha, Jeong Jong-gwan, and Lee Kyun-yong) rejected the appeal filed by NewJeans members on the 17th against the injunction for 'preservation of agency status and prohibition of advertising contract signing.' The court stated, "The reasons for the appeal are not significantly different from the arguments made in the first trial," and added, "Upon reviewing the submitted materials and both parties' claims according to relevant legal principles, the first trial's decision to accept the injunction is justified."

The court further explained, "During the exclusive contract period, unless there is a significant breach of important obligations by ADOR or an irreparable breakdown of trust between the parties, NewJeans cannot unilaterally terminate the contract or leave based solely on subjective reasons." It concluded, "There is no sufficient reason to believe that the trust relationship between the parties has been damaged in this exclusive contract."

The court acknowledged that ADOR has made substantial investments in nurturing NewJeans and thus has the right to benefit from their activities. It stated, "If the members unilaterally leave the exclusive contract and engage in independent entertainment activities, the creditor (ADOR) would lose all the investment results, while the debtors (NewJeans members) would unfairly enjoy all future entertainment activity outcomes exclusively."

Last November, the five members of NewJeans claimed that their exclusive contract with ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE, was terminated due to a breach and began independent activities. In response, ADOR filed an injunction in January to prevent NewJeans members from independently signing advertising contracts, which the court fully granted. The members' objection to this was dismissed, and their subsequent appeal to the Seoul High Court was also rejected.

In injunction cases, the applicant can directly appeal to the second trial if the application is dismissed in the first trial. Conversely, the opposing party can file an objection if the first trial's result is unfavorable, and only if this objection is not accepted can they appeal to the second trial. NewJeans members filed an objection after ADOR's injunction was accepted in the first trial, and upon its dismissal, they appealed to the second trial, which was also dismissed.

Last month, the court also accepted ADOR's indirect enforcement application against NewJeans. The Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 52 (Presiding Judge Heo Kyung-moo) ruled that "if NewJeans engages in independent activities without ADOR's prior consent, each member must pay 1 billion KRW per violation to ADOR." Meanwhile, the main lawsuit for 'confirmation of the validity of the exclusive contract' filed by ADOR against NewJeans members is ongoing in the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 41 (Presiding Judge Jeong Hoe-il).

Byunghun Yang, Reporter hun@tenasia.co.kr