SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- ADOR, the agency of NewJeans, has won an appeal in its damages lawsuit against Dolphiners Films for allegedly posting a music video without authorization.

The Seoul High Court's Civil Division 5-3 ruled partially in favor of ADOR, as did the lower court, in the damages suit filed by ADOR against Dolphiners Films and its CEO, director Shin Woo-seok.

The court ordered Dolphiners Films to pay ADOR 1 billion won (US$720,000) in damages.

"Even if Dolphiners Films had received verbal consent from Min Hee-jin, who was then CEO of ADOR, posting the video independently after adding footage without the company's prior consent and without removing the Apple logo, a production partner, ultimately constituted a breach of its contractual obligations to ADOR," the court said.

ADOR filed the lawsuit in September 2024 after Shin, who directed NewJeans' "ETA" music video, posted a director's cut of the video on Dolphiners Films' own YouTube channel. ADOR alleged that the video had been released without consultation.

At the first trial, former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin testified as a witness that music video directors are generally allowed in the industry to post videos on their personal social media accounts. However, both the lower and appellate courts rejected the argument.

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