BELIFT Lab Extensively Mentions GFRIEND In Lawsuit Hearing Against Min Hee Jin, Draws Public Fury

On July 18, KST, the 12th Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court held the third hearing of the ₩2.50 billion KRW (about $1.80 million USD) lawsuit filed by HYBE Labels against Min Hee Jin, the former CEO of ADOR. Out of this amount, ₩2.00 billion KRW (about $1.44 million USD) is being claimed by HYBE subsidiary BELIFT LAB (BELIFT hereon), the agency of ILLIT.

During the hearing, BELIFT LAB brought up the issue of Min causing ILLIT of plagiarising NewJeans, and defended their position by bringing up GFRIEND, a former HYBE girl group, extensively in the defense argument.

BELIFT’s legal representatives pointed out that Min Hee Jin had accused ILLIT of copying NewJeans based on various elements, including outdoor LED billboard usage at COEX, selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and standing in a line for a group photo shoot. They argued that by the same logic, NewJeans’ concept photos could also be considered copies of someone else’s work.

The legal representatives then presented slides showing similarities between NewJeans and GFRIEND’s content, which included side-by-side comparisons of music video editing that switches from 16:9 HD to a lower resolution of 4:3, full shots of girls running across a bridge, and school uniform concepts in music videos. They noted that GFRIEND had done all of these 5-6 years before NewJeans.

BELIFT’s legal team also cited some more examples, including ads shot in front of red structures with the sea and sky in the background, hanbok-themed photoshoots, group photos in white outfits with similar compositions, and concept photos with dreamy aesthetics.

The legal representatives clarified that they were not accusing NewJeans of copying GFRIEND, but simply pointing out how their concepts overlapped, just like ILLIT’s did with NewJeans’. They accused Min of intentionally exaggerating incidental similarities into deliberate copying.

As these arguments were made public by media sources, netizens weighed in heavily, arguing whether it helped BELIFT’s case. However, an overwhelming number of people seemed not to be buying it completely and even criticized the label for dragging GFRIEND into this legal battle.

• “I didn’t think of GFRIEND when I saw NewJeans, but when I saw ILLIT, a lot of the time NewJeans instantly came to mind.”
• “Why bring up GFRIEND out of nowhere? LOL. When ILLIT first came out, everyone was going crazy saying they reminded them of NewJeans.”
• “LOL.”
• “They could’ve just said, ‘Is NewJeans free from this too?’ without naming anyone…”
• “Why drag other idols into this and make a scene?”
• “What GFRIEND fans hate the most is the company dragging others like this. People did say they thought ILLIT was NewJeans when they saw their early photos. But no one ever said they mistook NewJeans for GFRIEND. Seriously, have some conscience.”