Happy Face Compares “MIXNINE” To “YG Treasure Box” In Court, YG Responds
Happy Face Entertainment and YG Entertainment‘s legal dispute continues as the former filed a lawsuit against the latter for the second time for damages.
During a recent court trial, Happy Face contested YG Entertainment’s stance that they “have no obligation to debut the 9 members from MIXNINE.” They argued the validity of their statement by comparing the debut plans of MIXNINE and YG’s latest survival debut program, YG Treasure Box.
YG Treasure Box is a survival debut program created by YG Entertainment, where 29 male YG trainees compete for a spot to debut in YG Entertainment’s upcoming new boy group.
Happy Face Entertainment argued the similarity between MIXNINE and YG Treasure Box, and questioned if YG Entertainment will pull out from debuting their own boy group if the ratings don’t meet their expectations like MIXNINE.
“If YG Treasure Box, a similar audition program created by YG Entertainment, does not do well in terms of broadcast ratings, does YG Entertainment not have any obligation to debut the winning members?”
— Happy Face Entertainment
YG Entertainment’s legal representative shot down the question by avoiding it entirely. They deemed an answer to the question unnecessary because “it has nothing to do with the current issue.”
“I think asking us this question has a different motive behind it. It has nothing to do with the current issue.
It is not related to the issue, and contracts are sufficient enough to make a judgement regarding this situation.
Hearing this now, we believe [YG Treasure Box] has nothing to do with the legal dispute.”
— YG Entertainment
In the end, the court decided to rest the case and continue again on January 16.
Happy Face Entertainment and YG Entertainment have been in a legal dispute ever since the former filed a lawsuit of damages of 10 million won (~$9,000 USD). They claim the damages were incurred after their trainee Woo Jinyoung competed (and won 1st place) in YG and JTBC’s survival program show MIXNINE, but failed to debut because YG Entertainment decided to change up the original terms of debut contract.
Happy Face Entertainment also revealed that they are not only fighting for the compensation of damages but for the Korean entertainment culture to stop bending to the wills of powerful corporates.
“More so than our desire to be compensated for our damages, we hope Korea’s pop culture industry and Hallyu Wave will be able to escape the grasp of powerful corporates and develop justly.”
— Happy Face Entertainment
