ADOR's Injunction Request Accepted in March
The NewJeans members' appeal against the court's decision to prohibit their independent activities has also been rejected by the High Court. As a result, NewJeans' independent activities will remain banned.
On June 17, the Seoul High Court's Civil Division 25-2 (Presiding Judges Hwang Byungha, Jung Jonggwan, and Lee Gyunyong) dismissed the NewJeans members' appeal against the injunction decision prohibiting them from acting as an agency and signing advertising contracts.
Previously, in November of last year, the five NewJeans members announced that their exclusive contracts with ADOR had been terminated due to ADOR's breach of contract, and subsequently changed their team name to NJZ to begin independent activities. In response, ADOR filed for an injunction in January, seeking to prevent the NewJeans members from independently signing advertising contracts. ADOR later expanded the scope of its request, seeking to prohibit NewJeans from engaging in music activities such as songwriting, composing, and singing, as well as all other entertainment activities.
The court accepted ADOR's claims. In March, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil Division 50 (Chief Judge Kim Sanghoon) ruled in favor of ADOR, stating, "It is difficult to conclude that the creditor (ADOR) has sufficiently demonstrated that a reason for termination of the exclusive contract occurred due to a material breach of contract, or that the mutual relationship of trust has been irreparably damaged." The court therefore fully granted ADOR's application.
The NewJeans members filed an objection with the court, but in April, the court dismissed their request, stating that the injunction was justified. The members then appealed to the High Court, but their appeal was again dismissed on this day.
Meanwhile, last month, the court also granted ADOR's application for indirect compulsory enforcement against NewJeans, ruling that if NewJeans engages in independent activities without ADOR's prior approval, each member must pay ADOR 1 billion won per violation.
The first trial of the main lawsuit filed by ADOR to confirm the validity of the exclusive contracts with the NewJeans members is still ongoing.
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