How THE BOYZ Can Keep Their Name Across Agencies

K-pop boy group THE BOYZ will keep performing together under the same name, even though its members are now signing with different agencies for their individual work. A past trademark dispute during the group's last label move set the stage for the current arrangement, and KPOPIT has confirmed there are no legal issues around the group's continued use of the name THE BOYZ.

Nine members, Sangyeon, Jacob, Younghoon, Hyunjae, Juyeon, Kevin, Q, Sunwoo, and Eric, have agreed to continue as a group without member New and have finalized a contract covering only their team activities. A new label will handle the group's work. Each member will sign a separate deal with a different company for solo projects.

The setup is a break from what THE BOYZ did the last time around. In late 2024, the group left IST Entertainment together and moved as a full lineup to One Hundred. This time, all nine members did not join a single company. They chose to split their individual work from their team work. Now in their ninth year since debut, the members have widened their individual lanes, and the new structure gives each of them more room to pursue solo activities while keeping the group intact.

The bigger question was whether they could keep calling themselves THE BOYZ at all. In K-pop, the group's trademark is usually owned by the agency, not the artists. That is where this case is different.

The trademark issue first surfaced in December 2024, when THE BOYZ left their original agency, IST Entertainment. There was noise at the time over who held the rights to the group's name. IST Entertainment then announced it would give all 11 members at the time free use of the trademark.

The key detail was who held that right. It was granted to the members, not tied to any specific company. IST Entertainment said at the time that as long as the members agreed to the activity, the trademark could be used at no cost for units and solo work as well.

That decision has turned out to matter roughly two years later. The current lineup is not passing the name THE BOYZ from one company to another. The right sits with the members, which gives them the ground to keep the team going no matter which agencies they sign with individually.

The case is notable because it shows a K-pop group can keep its name and identity even after its members scatter across different agencies. In recent years, more K-pop acts have taken this approach around contract renewal time, with members choosing different companies based on their own career plans while still working together as a group.

How the group's name is handled has become one of the main factors in whether that kind of long-term team activity is possible. Even when members want to keep performing together, an unresolved trademark can block them from doing so under the original name. THE BOYZ already went through that fight once. Now, with their agency structure shifting again, they are still able to work under the same name. That makes this case a reference point for how a group can hold on to its identity and its activities after the original exclusive contract ends.