Former CEO of ADOR May appeared in court on November 11, stating that “Verbal contracts are standard practice in the entertainment industry.”
That afternoon, the 62 Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court held the third hearing for ADOR’s ₩1.1 billion (about $800,000) damages lawsuit against the Dolphiners Films production team. The case centers on YouTube videos related to NewJeans, which ADOR claims belong to the company but were uploaded by the production team without permission.
The dispute began when ADOR questioned director Shin Woo Seok of Dolphiners Films about his authority to publish New Jeans content on your YouTube channel. Shortly thereafter, Shin deleted everything New Jeans-related videos from his other unofficial fan channel, Heee channel ban.leading fans who enjoyed the behind-the-scenes content to direct criticism towards ADOR.
ADOR claimed that uploading the “ETA Director’s Cut” the video on the Dolphiners Films channel, which has 480,000 subscribers, instead of the official HYBE channel with 78.7 million subscribers, caused financial and reputational damage to HYBE and ADOR while benefiting Dolphiners Films.
Shin, on the other hand, claimed that ADOR’s public statement called its upload “unauthorized” damaged his reputation and filed a separate criminal complaint for defamation. In response, ADOR filed a civil lawsuit against him and his production team.
During the last hearing, May he testified as a defense witness, marking his first court appearance for a case unrelated to his stock options controversy. Both sides focused on the question of whether director Shin had legitimate rights to upload the videos and whether minimum granted him special privileges during his tenure.
On the easel, minimum he stated it “It is common in the entertainment industry for music video directors to upload completed works to their social media or personal websites, rather than exclusively through official company channels.”
He continued, “Uploading to personal channels helps generate promotional buzz. Respecting collaborators and their creative work is a key principle.” minimum he added that it actually is “It’s harder to find cases with written contracts.”
minimum elaborated further: “Formal service contracts often take too long to process and cannot be easily changed. The entertainment industry moves quickly, so these cases are quite common. Director Shin himself was not satisfied with the written contract. In this industry, having a signed written agreement is actually unusual and even seen as strange.”
The ongoing legal battle between ADOR and Dolphiners Films continues to attract attention for its implications on intellectual property rights, production ethics and the nature of creative collaboration in the fast-paced K-pop environment.
Sources: born
