[ENG] Yonhap News: "LOONA in Legal Dispute with Agency, Win Partial Victory in Lawsuit to Nullify Exclusive Contract" (250417)

(Seoul: Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jun-tae: 5 members of the group LOONA won a partial victory in their lawsuit over their exclusive contract against their agency.

On the 17th, the Seoul Northern District Court’s 12th Civil Cases Division (Chief Judge Cho Seung-woo) ruled partially in favour of the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by LOONA Haseul, Yeojin, Yves, Go Won, and Olivia Hye (Hyeju) filed against Blockberry Creative to “confirm the non-validity of their exclusive contract.”

The court dismissed all the plaintiffs’ primary claims but gave the ruling, “it is confirmed that the exclusive contract and supplementary agreements concluded between the plaintiffs and the defendant have no effect.”

The ruling for the civil case did not separately specify the reason for the verdict, so the details have not immediately been made known.

Regarding this, LOONA’s legal representative told Yonhap News in a phone call, “We made a primary claim for the nullification of the exclusive contract and a secondary claim for the termination of the exclusive contract, and it appears that the termination was accepted.” This suggests that the secondary claim, prepared in case the primary claim was not accepted, was upheld.

The legal representative also explained that the members had informed Blockberry Creative of their contract termination in 2023, stating that the company had transferred some of the exclusive contract rights to a Japanese entertainment agency without their prior written consent, and that the court seems to have ruled that this notice is legitimate.

Earlier, they had been in a conflict with Blockberry over profit distribution issues and filed for an injunction to suspend the validity of their exclusive contract in 2022, but this was dismissed in the first trial. But after receiving a favourable ruling in their appeal, they filed a lawsuit in August 2023 to confirm the non-validity of their exclusive contract.

(Source)