NewJeans' Objection and Appeal Dismissed on June 17
No Further Appeal Filed by the Deadline (June 24)
The court has finalized the injunction requested by ADOR to prohibit the NewJeans members from pursuing independent activities.
According to the legal community on June 25, the five members of NewJeans did not submit an appeal to the appellate court that had maintained the injunction prohibiting activities such as preserving the agency status and signing advertising contracts, as of the previous day. An appeal must be filed within one week from the date the decision is notified, and if filed, the case is referred to the Supreme Court.
However, since the NewJeans members did not file an appeal by the deadline, the injunction prohibiting independent activities has been finalized. This comes about one week after the Seoul High Court Civil Division 25-2 (Presiding Judges Hwang Byungha, Jung Jonggwan, and Lee Gyunyong) dismissed the NewJeans members' objection and appeal against the injunction decision on June 17.
Last November, the five members of NewJeans pointed out a breach of the exclusive contract by ADOR, a label under HYBE, stating that "the relationship of trust between the parties has been irreparably damaged." In response, ADOR filed an injunction in January, seeking to prevent NewJeans from independently signing advertising contracts and similar activities.
The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 50 (Presiding Judge Kim Sanghun), which reviewed the case, fully accepted ADOR's request in March, stating, "It is difficult to conclude that ADOR, as the claimant, has sufficiently demonstrated that a reason for termination of the exclusive contract has arisen due to a significant breach of contract, or that the relationship of trust underlying the exclusive contract has been irreparably destroyed."
The NewJeans members filed an objection, which was dismissed in April, and then appealed again to the High Court, but that appeal was also dismissed. Last month, the court also accepted ADOR's request for indirect compulsory enforcement against NewJeans, ordering that if the members engage in independent activities, they must pay 1 billion KRW per violation per member to ADOR.
Meanwhile, the main lawsuit filed by ADOR to confirm the validity of the exclusive contract with the NewJeans members is currently ongoing at the first trial stage.
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