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K-pop girl band FIFTY FIFTY has been in a legal battle with their artist management company, ATTRAKT, for quite some time over financial discrepancies. Now, the girl group has reportedly lost the lawsuit. FIFTY FIFTY’s request to suspend their exclusive contracts with ATTRAKT has been denied by the court.
FIFTY FIFTY’s legal representative, Barun Law, had made three claims: the first was of alleged lack of financial transparency, the second was that the company allegedly did not take adequate care of the members’ health, and the third was an alleged lack of resources to support the group’s activities.
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The decision came on August 28, when the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the case and denied the four FIFTY FIFTY members’ requests for the suspension of their contracts. The court also stated that there was “insufficient evidence” to grant a suspension. In terms of financial transparency, the court stated that after reviewing ATTRAKT’s finances, in light of production costs and other expenses, there was “no evidence of any unpaid earnings that FIFTY FIFTY should have received by now.”
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Though there was a specific omission on the company’s statement for April that showed the group’s digital music revenue for the month as 0, the mistake was corrected by the agency as soon as they were informed about it. Thus, the court said, “There was no instance of FIFTY FIFTY making a request for correction and the agency not complying, and there was no instance of the agency violating their duty more than once or for a long period of time.” It added, “It is difficult to see this incident as causing an irreparable breach of trust.”
In addition, the Seoul Central District Court also rejected the claim that the company had not taken care of the members’ health. The court stated, “After discovering the issue with FIFTY FIFTY’s [Aran’s] health, the agency [ATTRAKT] arranged for her to be diagnosed. They then checked on her diagnosis and progress, and they adjusted their promotion schedule and set up a date for the surgery.”
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Regarding the claim of alleged lack of resources the court explained, “It is difficult to say that the agency is in violation of their exclusive contract just because The Givers is no longer working with the company.”
The court also criticized FIFTY FIFTY for not discussing these issues with ATTRAKT before filing to suspend their contracts. The judge pointed out that according to the law, if an agency is in violation of a contract, the artist is legally required to give the agency a 14-day grace period after notifying them of the violation. However, in this case, the members of FIFTY FIFTY immediately took legal action, instead of notifying ATTRAKT of their grievances.
The court stated, “The group’s activities came to a halt because of Jung Eun Ah [Aran]’s surgery, and because some of the members came down with COVID-19, they each returned to their own family homes. Immediately afterwards, they suddenly sent the agency notice that they would be ending their exclusive contracts.” The judge continued, “There is no way to see this as [ATTRAKT] refusing to make corrections in spite of a request for correction.”
Following the court’s decision, FIFTY FIFTY’s attorney told Yonhap News in a telephonic interview, “As we still have to discuss the matter with the members, nothing has yet been decided, but it is currently very likely that we will be appealing the decision.”
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