ADOR won its appeal in a damages lawsuit against Dolphin Kidnapping Group and director Shin Woo-seok over the NewJeans “ETA” MV.
October/29/2026 17:10Related Groups & Members
ADOR also won in the appeal trial of the lawsuit against the advertising production company “Dolphin Kidnapping Group.” On the afternoon of the 29th, the Civil Division 5-3 of the Seoul High Court delivered its ruling in the appeal trial of the damages claim lawsuit ADOR had filed against Dolphin Kidnapping Group and director Shin Woo-seok. That day, the court made the same judgment as in the first trial and accepted ADOR’s arguments. The court determined that even if Dolphin Kidnapping Group had received oral consent from ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin at the time, including additional footage in the director’s version and posting a video that did not remove Apple-related elements without prior written consent constituted a breach of contract. In the first trial, in January of this year, the court ruled in the 1.1 billion won (about 111 million yen) damages lawsuit ADOR had filed in 2024 against Dolphin Kidnapping Group and director Shin Woo-seok that Dolphin Kidnapping Group must pay ADOR 1 billion won (about 100 million yen) plus 12% annual late interest. Dissatisfied with the ruling, Dolphin Kidnapping Group immediately appealed. The issue began when Dolphin Kidnapping Group released a director’s cut version of the music video for NewJeans’ “ETA” on its own YouTube channel in August 2024. ADOR requested the deletion of the video, saying it had been posted without prior consent. In response, director Shin Woo-seok claimed, “Because of ADOR’s deletion request, all NewJeans music video-related videos, channels that Dolphin Kidnapping Group had produced and uploaded until now, and videos that were scheduled to be uploaded in the future became impossible to make public.” He also deleted NewJeans-related content from the unofficial fandom channel “Bang Hee-soo.” ADOR explained the reason for requesting the suspension of publication by saying, “The ‘ETA’ music video director’s cut posted on Dolphin Kidnapping Group’s channel was an edited work that included parts over which there had previously been disagreements with the advertiser, and it was posted without permission and without consultation with the advertiser.” The conflict between the two sides developed into a legal battle. Dolphin Kidnapping Group’s side maintained that there had been oral agreement when Min Hee-jin was ADOR’s CEO, and former CEO Min Hee-jin appeared in court in person and argued that it was industry practice for director Shin Woo-seok to post the work on his own channel and that it had been orally agreed upon. However, ADOR countered, “Dolphin Kidnapping Group posted the video in question without prior written consent and violated the outsourcing contract,” and “Although former CEO Min Hee-jin and director Shin Woo-seok (Dolphin Kidnapping Group) claim they did not know the contract because they are creators, that cannot be a license to ignore the law and the contract,” and the court accepted ADOR’s argument even in the appeal trial. • Lost the first trial in a lawsuit with ADOR... NewJeans MV production company deposits about 120 million yen in security with the court • “Lost to ADOR” NewJeans MV production company dissatisfied with the first-trial ruling... files appeal
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