On January 13 (Korean time), the Seoul Central District Civil Court, Room 62 presided over by Chief Justice Lee Hyun Seok, announced the verdict in the compensation lawsuit between ADOR and Dolphiners Films, related to the illegal posting of NewJeans music videos.
According to the ruling, the court accepted most of ADOR's request, forcing Dolphiners Films to compensate 1 billion won (about 700,000 USD) out of a total of 1.1 billion won that ADOR sued. In addition, Dolphiners Films also has to pay an interest rate of 12%/year, from December 14, 2024 until payment obligations are fulfilled.
However, the court rejected ADOR's private request to force director Shin Woo Seok to compensate 100 million won on charges of personal slander.
The lawsuit originated from a dispute that broke out in August 2024, when Dolphiners Films posted the directed version of the MV "ETA" on YouTube without official approval from ADOR as well as related advertising partners. ADOR then requested the removal of the video, arguing that this act violated the contract and infringed on the company's exclusive content management rights.
In September 2024, ADOR officially filed a lawsuit against Dolphiners Films, demanding compensation of 1 billion won for violating the contract and civil liability. At the same time, the company also requested director Shin Woo Seok to compensate an additional 100 million won on the grounds of slander.
On the defendant's side, Dolphiners Films and Shin Woo Seok argued that they had received written consent from former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin to allow the release of the directed version. However, the jury concluded that there was not enough evidence to prove that there was a legal agreement for this publication.
After being asked to remove the video, Shin Woo Seok posted many statements criticizing ADOR on social networks, and deleted all content related to NewJeans from Ban Heesoo channel - a channel named after the group's fandom. ADOR affirmed that they only requested to remove the director's version of "ETA", not at all requested to delete or suspend all other content related to NewJeans.
