ADOR and Dolphin Kidnapping Group clash over music video rights, with a lawsuit for damages stemming from unauthorized video release.
December/10/2025 12:11Related Groups & Members
ADOR and the Dolphin Kidnapping Group have once again shown opposing positions regarding the publication of a music video. Yesterday (the 9th), the final arguments of a lawsuit for damages amounting to about 1.1 billion won (approximately 110 million yen) filed by ADOR against the outsourced video production company Dolphin Kidnapping Group and director Shin Woosuk were held at the 62nd Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge Lee Hyun-seok). This incident began when director Shin Woosuk of Dolphin Kidnapping Group posted the director's cut version of NewJeans' 'ETA' music video on his YouTube channel. ADOR filed a lawsuit claiming that 'the director publicly released the video, which is the company's property, without permission,' but director Shin Woosuk countered that 'it was a common practice in the industry.' On the same day, the Dolphin Kidnapping Group argued, 'Despite a clear agreement between the parties, claiming a huge amount of damages due to the lack of written records promotes social distrust.' They also pointed out, 'The video publication was the result of an agreement between the former CEO (Min Hee-jin) and defendant Shin Woosuk, seeking the most beneficial way to promote NewJeans. If the former CEO had not raised issues with contract terms that did not match reality after the change of leadership, this incident would not have escalated.' In a previous third hearing, former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin attended the trial and argued that director Shin Woosuk's posting of the music video on his YouTube channel was industry practice and claimed it was verbally agreed upon. However, ADOR stated, 'The Dolphin Kidnapping Group published the video without prior written consent, violating the outsourcing contract, and we are claiming part of the penalty.' They emphasized that 'when a partner company publishes an artist's work, it is internally regulated to share and confirm the work in advance. Even the advertiser Apple required prior written consent for the use of a two-second segment in the music video.' They further questioned the existence of the verbal agreement claimed by the Dolphin Kidnapping Group and Min Hee-jin, stating, 'If there was a verbal agreement, there would be no reason for Min Hee-jin to avoid repeated confirmation requests.' ADOR's Lee Do-kyung criticized, 'After joining in August, I found many instances of business processing that did not comply with the contracts and company regulations from Min Hee-jin's era. The claim that Min Hee-jin and director Shin Woosuk (Dolphin Kidnapping Group) are creators and do not know the contracts cannot be an excuse for not complying with laws and contracts.' The ruling for this trial is scheduled for January 13, 2026.
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