ADOR, the agency behind K-pop sensation NewJeans, has won its legal dispute against production studio Dolphiners Films.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the HYBE sub-label, ordering Dolphiners Films to pay 1 billion won ($679,000) in damages on January 13th. The court also imposed a 12% annual interest rate on the amount, retroactive to December 14th, 2024, until the sum is fully paid.
While the court held the production company liable, it dismissed ADOR’s separate claims against Dolphiners Films’ director, Shin Woo Seok. As a result, ADOR will cover the legal costs related to the suit against Shin, while Dolphiners Films will bear most of the costs associated with the corporate lawsuit.
The dispute dates back to August 2024 and centers on the music video for NewJeans’ hit single “ETA.”
Dolphiners Films, the creative studio credited with shaping much of NewJeans’ visual identity, uploaded a “Director’s Cut” of the music video to its own YouTube channel. ADOR quickly labeled the upload unauthorized, saying the video was released without prior approval.
The situation escalated when Shin removed all NewJeans-related content from his unofficial channels and filed a criminal defamation complaint against ADOR. In response, ADOR filed a civil lawsuit, accusing the studio of breach of contract and copyright infringement.
A key issue during the trial was whether a verbal agreement existed between Shin and ADOR’s former leadership, including ex-CEO Min Hee Jin. Dolphiners Films argued that the release was based on mutual trust, noting that similar uploads had occurred in the past without formal written agreements and were allegedly known to ADOR staff.
ADOR countered that music videos are high-value commercial assets that generate substantial revenue and require strict oversight, both in content and release timing. The agency noted that the “ETA” music video alone earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in YouTube revenue and emphasized that such controls were standard practice even during Min Hee-jin’s tenure as CEO. ADOR’s legal team said it was therefore “unlikely” that Shin Woo Seok had been given full discretion over both the video’s content and its release schedule.
The court ultimately sided with ADOR, reinforcing the industry’s strict approach to intellectual property rights and content control within K-pop.
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