News Breaking: Court Rules ADOR-NewJeans Exclusive Contract Valid (1 Viewer)

[Selfmate]

A court ruled in favor of entertainment agency ADOR in a dispute over exclusive contracts with girl group NewJeans.

Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 41 (Presiding Judge Jeong Hoe-il) announced on the 30th that it "confirmed the validity of the exclusive contract signed on April 21, 2022," in a lawsuit filed by ADOR against five NewJeans members seeking confirmation of the contract’s validity. The court ordered the NewJeans members to bear the litigation costs.

Source: https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2025/10/30/OAOC4LSQMJEUHNLCRLYWIJ5NOU/

 

[velvet]

Interesting

 

[Ahsoka]

I mixed up which side Ador was on and was really surprised But this makes sense

 

[lexus]

No surprise here

 

[Abeamus]

NewJeans side already made a statement saying they're going to appeal as they cannot go back to Ador so I hope Bunnies like legal battles because that's the only entertainment from them they're going to get for the foreseeable future.

 

[Deleted member 74]

oh aw
I'm going to miss newjeans what a waste for them..it's the obvious outcome
so no comeback huh

 

[RandAlThor]

ofc it was a loosing case from the get go.

 

[RandAlThor]

oh aw
I'm going to miss newjeans what a waste for them..it's the obvious outcome
so no comeback huh

not for awhile with the appeal.
but nj will not win. Selfmate has a full response by the court to each point and they did not even sniff a hint of creditability in any of them.

Heck the court flat out said that MJH conspired to commit fraud, damage Hybe and pull Ador away.

 

[RandAlThor]

From Selfmates other thread
the criminal case may not be on but the court think she is as guilty as say OJ.

The court pointed out, "Min Hee-jin had the intention to separate ADOR, including NewJeans, from HYBE and had prepared in advance for a public opinion campaign and lawsuit.

 

[Selfmate]

From Selfmates other thread
the criminal case may not be on but the court think she is as guilty as say OJ.

The court pointed out, "Min Hee-jin had the intention to separate ADOR, including NewJeans, from HYBE and had prepared in advance for a public opinion campaign and lawsuit.

not just that but the court found that audit and termination was legal

 

[Deleted member 74]

not for awhile with the appeal.
but nj will not win. Selfmate has a full response by the court to each point and they did not even sniff a hint of creditability in any of them.

Heck the court flat out said that MJH conspired to commit fraud, damage Hybe and pull Ador away.

Sigh
I just don't think it's a smart choice what they're doing, but they don't seem to want to budge
goodbye comebacksI really liked the members and their songs, it's a shame they can't come to some kind of agreement

 

[centen]

It seems pretty straightforward at this point: if they legit don't want to return to ADOR, then there is surely a clause in the contract that makes it clear how much breaking it will cost them.

But I get that it's more appealing to do what you want while someone else pays for it.

 

[velvet]

goodbye comebacksI really liked the members and their songs, it's a shame they can't come to some kind of agreement

It's a lose-lose situation to me, Hybe has been wanting to dungeon them even before Min Heejin's attempted takeover. There would have been no comebacks no matter if njz fought or not unfortunately.

 

[Deleted member 74]

It's a lose-lose situation to me, Hybe has been wanting to dungeon them even before Min Heejin's attempted takeover. There would have been no comebacks no matter if njz fought or not unfortunately.

njz was doomed from the start TT

 

[Abeamus]

It's a lose-lose situation to me, Hybe has been wanting to dungeon them even before Min Heejin's attempted takeover. There would have been no comebacks no matter if njz fought or not unfortunately.

Is there actually any proof of Hybe wanting to dungeon them? The proof I've seen so far has been thin at best that I'm skeptical if it was ever more than MHJ twisting things

 

[centen]

Is there actually any proof of Hybe wanting to dungeon them? The proof I've seen so far has been thin at best that I'm skeptical if it was ever more than MHJ twisting things

This. Isn't part of the reason all of this was so surprising is because they were so active? I looked up wiki and MHJ's argument with HYBE all started in April 2024, and NJ released music in May, debuted in Japan in June, and were set to release another album when they publicly sided with MHJ in September.

Though I feel like, even if HYBE legit wanted to dungeon them, they almost certainly couldn't after fighting the court case to get them to return, because then the girls would have a way to go back and challenge. "See what happened when we returned? We told you they were out to get us" kind of deal.

 

[Abeamus]

This. Isn't part of the reason all of this was so surprising is because they were so active? I looked up wiki and MHJ's argument with HYBE all started in April 2024, and NJ released music in May, debuted in Japan in June, and were set to release another album when they publicly sided with MHJ in September.

Though I feel like, even if HYBE legit wanted to dungeon them, they almost certainly couldn't after fighting the court case to get them to return, because then the girls would have a way to go back and challenge. "See what happened when we returned? We told you they were out to get us" kind of deal.

My question to anyone who thinks Hybe was going to sideline them is how as a publicly traded company do they justify that to their investors? Hybe has investors who want to see big money get bigger and that's their sole responsibility so they could be in legal trouble with investors if they sidelined NewJeans without good reason and outside of massively stiffling their momentum at the time I don't see the justification.

I believe MHJ flooded the news cycle early on to twist public narrative in a very easy way of poor exploited artists vs evil money hungry company but narrative only gets you so far since at some point you lose the benefit of the doubt if you aren't providing substance to your claim which both MHJ and NewJeans have failed to do so.

 

[Selfmate]

It seems pretty straightforward at this point: if they legit don't want to return to ADOR, then there is surely a clause in the contract that makes it clear how much breaking it will cost them.

But I get that it's more appealing to do what you want while someone else pays for it.

I don't think there is such a clause but apparently there is legal precedent that states (again I could be wrong) that the termination fee will be calculated with reference to the preceding two years prior to the termination then extrapolated out for the balance of the contract term...

which is why I've seen figures upwards of $200m USD floating around

 

[velvet]

Is there actually any proof of Hybe wanting to dungeon them? The proof I've seen so far has been thin at best that I'm skeptical if it was ever more than MHJ twisting things

The Illit debut plans. I like Illit but there's no way they weren't meant to replace njz

 

[Abeamus]

The Illit debut plans. I like Illit but there's no way they weren't meant to replace njz

Plans are one thing but the finished product is another and Kpop is almost all about copying what is popular at the time which while tone deaf for Hybe to potentially do to their own girl group however being tone deaf wouldn't exactly be a new thing for the company.