NewJeans MV Studio and ADOR Head to Appeals Court Over 'ETA' Lawsuit

The legal fight between NewJeans' label ADOR and Dolphiners Film, the outside production company behind several of the group's music videos, is heading back to court.

The Seoul High Court's 5-3 Civil Division opened the first hearing of the appeals trial on Thursday at 2:40 p.m. KST in the damages suit ADOR filed against Dolphiners Film director Shin Woo-seok and others.

The case dates back to last August. Dolphiners Film posted a director's cut of the "ETA" music video on its own YouTube channel, a move ADOR said crossed a line. The label argued that it holds the copyright and other ownership rights to the footage and that the studio had put it out without permission. After ADOR looked into what happened, Shin took down every NewJeans-related video he had uploaded to unofficial channels. The dispute became public from there.

Shin later filed a criminal complaint, saying ADOR's public statements had damaged his reputation. ADOR, in turn, filed a civil suit against Dolphiners Film seeking damages.

During the first trial, former ADOR chief executive Min Hee-jin appeared as a witness and testified that the release of the director's cut had been agreed on verbally. The court sided with ADOR anyway. In its January ruling, the court ordered Dolphiners Film to pay ADOR 1 billion won plus delayed interest. The court did not grant the rest of the damages ADOR had sought and rejected the claims filed against Shin personally.

Both sides appealed. Dolphiners Film also asked the court to halt enforcement of the ruling while the appeal moves forward.

In a public statement at the time, Dolphiners Film argued that the ruling contradicted itself. The studio said the court had acknowledged that both sides reached a clear agreement about the upload, yet still found a breach of duty because there was no written contract. The company said the verbal agreement should be treated as binding.

The appeals hearing now sets the stage for a second look at one of the more closely watched behind-the-scenes disputes tied to NewJeans, whose ties to ADOR and its former leadership remain a live storyline in the K-pop industry.