Dolphiners Film, the production studio that directed several music videos of NewJeans including Ditto and ETA, appealed for a stay on damages enforcement in the first-trial ruling it lost against ADOR. As the legal battle between the two companies intensifies, Dolphiners Film has refused to accept the court’s ruling that ordered it to pay approximately 1 billion KWR (about $679,000) in damages to ADOR. It comes as future of NewJeans remains in a limbo, following the termination of exclusive contract and removal of its member Danielle Marsh recently. NewJeans is currently left with four members, Minji, Hanni, Haerin, and Hyein.
Dolphiners Film appeals against the first-instance judgment
On January 21, Korean media reported that director Shin Woo-Seok and Dolphiners Film had filed an appeal against the first-instance judgment in the damages lawsuit filed by ADOR against them. It even sought a stay of compulsory execution.
Dolphiners Films is the creative studio credited with shaping the visual identity of NewJeans through its music videos.
About Dolphiners Film vs ADOR
On January 13, in a court verdict, the HYBE subsidiary label ADOR that manages the disputed girl group NewJeans won its long-running copyright dispute with the studio. The dispute dates back to August 2024 when Dolphiners Film posted a director’s cut version of NewJeans MV ETA on their YouTube channel. ADOR argued that the upload was unauthorised and violated its copyrights, while Dolphiners maintained it had prior verbal permission to share the version.
Director Shin went ahead and deleted other NewJeans-related videos posted on another unofficial channel, leading to a confrontation. ADOR responded, “We only requested the suspension of the posting of the “ETA” director’s cut video. We never asked for the deletion or suspension of all NewJeans-related videos on other channels. Director Shin is spreading false information.”
While director Shin filed a defamation suit, ADOR claimed damages under a lawsuit based on ownership of the videos.
