Former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin - who led the founding of the girl group NewJeans - once again emphasized the seeming similarities between NewJeans and HYBE's new girl group - ILLIT in the ongoing legal battle with HYBE Labels.
Previously, the 12th Civil Court of the Seoul Western District Court held the third hearing in the damages lawsuit filed by HYBE Labels against Min Hee Jin, seeking compensation of 2.5 billion won (about 1.8 million USD).
During the trial, Min Hee Jin's legal team presented a collection of online comments from platforms such as Theqoo and Instiz, in which users accused ILLIT of imitating NewJeans. Min Hee Jin's side argued that the plagiarism controversy was not initiated by them but raised by the public, the media and industry immediately after ILLIT's debut.
Min Hee Jin's representative explained, "The issue of ILLIT copying NewJeans was initially raised within HYBE. However, in response, HYBE conducted an illegal audit. The press conference and subsequent public statements were made for the purpose of making excuses, to clarify the real motives behind HYBE's audits".
Min Hee Jin's side continued to share: "This is a lawsuit related to defamation and business obstruction, not a copyright infringement. However, ILLIT continues to shape the issue as a copyright issue by focusing on the use of terms such as copycopy and copyright. autographs do not mean copyright infringement. The plaintiff is overshadowing the issue by implying that the term "plagiarism" means a legal copyright infringement, which has been clarified in previous cases."
Explaining why ILLIT focused on choreography, Min Hee Jin's team said, "The other aspects are even more similar, making it difficult for them to deny impersonation. The similarities between NewJeans and ILLIT are too big to be taken by chance."
Min Hee Jin's lawyer also emphasized that public awareness of ILLIT is a copy of NewJeans that existed before Min Hee Jin made the comment.
"When ILLIT was first announced, many people immediately thought they were considering NewJeans. These similarities are so prominent that even international critics and fans have described ILLIT as a "Min Hee Jin-style girl group" or commented that "everything about them reminds me of NewJeans".
