Seoul court grants ADOR’s injunction to prohibit NewJeans from independent activities

A Seoul court has granted ADOR‘s request for an injunction preventing NewJeans (aka NJZ) from pursuing independent activities under their new name.

• READ MORE: NewJeans vs HYBE: a comprehensive timeline of events

Today (March 21), the Seoul Central District Court’s Civil Division 50 ruled in favour of ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE, granting the company’s injunction to prevent NewJeans from carrying out activities independently under their new name, NJZ.

According to sources from South Korean news publications News1 and SBS, per Soompi, the injunction also prevents the girl group from signing advertising contracts on their own. NewJeans have yet to issue a public response to the injunction.

ADOR first filed the injunction in January. The suit was first filed to preventing the K-pop group from signing advertisement deals as independent artists, before it was expanded to encompass “all musical activities” pursued as independent acts.

When asked for comment at the time, ADOR told NME in a statement that it “felt it was necessary to extend the scope of the injunction due to the unilateral expansion of NewJeans members’ activities, including new music releases and overseas performances”.

The HYBE subsidiary emphasised that its aim is “to ensure that they can continue their activities under our existing contractual agreement”, rather than “hinder the artists’ careers”. It also reiterated its previous denial of its alleged attempt to cancel the group’s ComplexCon set, saying the extension of its injunction was not a “retaliatory measure”.

Following the injunction grant, ADOR and NJZ continue to be engaged in legal battle as the company’s lawsuit against the quintet to verify the validity of their contracts with it is still ongoing.

That was filed after NJZ held an emergency press conference on November 28, announcing that they were terminating their exclusive contracts with ADOR. The next day, the label refuted the statement, claiming their contract with the group “remains in full effect”.

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