BELIFT LAB Fails To Provide Evidence To Refute Claims Regarding ILLIT’s Plagiarism Issue
On February 12, the Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court held a ruling hearing on HYBE’s lawsuit against former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin.
The court ruled that HYBE will bear the legal costs and that Min Hee Jin’s exercise of the put option is legitimate, and that HYBE must pay ₩25.5 billion KRW (about $17.6 million USD).
BELIFT LAB failed to present proper evidence proving plagiarism in Min Hee Jin’s shareholder contract trial.
In regard to the plagiarism issue with ILLIT, the court stated, “According to the report, ILLIT’s debut performance is similar to that of NewJeans. NewJeans’ parents also filed a petition in response, but their claim is based on a similarity that cannot be considered a mistake in the underlying facts.”
They added, “BELIFT LAB failed to provide further evidence to support the claim that the two groups are not similar, and it’s difficult to say that the controversy has completely subsided.”
Meanwhile the court stated that Min Hee Jin’s press conference and official statements were both determined to have been based on the parties’ right of rebuttal.
They stated, “The allegations of copying and pushing appear legitimate. Considering the potential conflict of interest among shareholders, the issue was raised via internal email, and the resulting conflict arose from the exercise of the right to audit. There is a clear loss of [krw256ok[/krw] in put options, and it is difficult to view this as a significant breach of contract.”
