On October 9th, Financial News revealed that Judge Kim Jin-sung of the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of production company A in its lawsuit against Rebyte United and its CEO, Kim. The court mandated that the defendants collectively compensate the plaintiff with 110 million KRW for the completion of a music video.
Rebyte serves as the parent company of BlockBerry Creative, which has been embroiled in a previous legal battle involving Chuu. Additionally, CEO Kim is married to Lee Jong-myung, the former head of BlockBerry, and is currently managing BlockBerry as well.
The lawsuit outcome was decided through a default judgment, as neither Kim nor Rebyte responded to the claims made by A.
In civil litigation, if a defendant fails to respond within 30 days or acknowledges the claims, the judge may proceed with a ruling without holding additional hearings.
Per the court’s decision, BlockBerry had entered into a contract with A in September of the previous year to create a music video for “Voyage,”the inaugural track of the newly formed girl group Geenius.
The total contractual amount, inclusive of tax, was set at 110 million KRW. BlockBerry had initially structured the payment to be made in three parts: an advance of 25 million KRW, a mid-payment of 50 million KRW, and a final installment of 25 million KRW.
A also expanded its office space and arranged a sublease with BlockBerry, stipulating that the 25 million KRW advance would be used as an additional deposit for the sublease agreement.
However, as BlockBerry faced financial difficulties, the then-CEO Lee Jong-myung requested that A transfer the music video production and sublease agreements to Rebyte.
Rebyte made a portion of the payment (the mid-payment) directly.
A asserted that even though they delivered the finalized music video in January, the remaining 35 million KRW, which included the balance and VAT, was never paid.
Moreover, following the expiration of the sublease contract with BlockBerry in April, A did not receive the 75 million KRW deposit.
After numerous ignored payment requests, A opted to pursue legal action.
The music video for Geenius’ debut song “Voyage”is available for viewing on their official YouTube channel, where it had garnered approximately 500,000 views as of 3:30 PM on October 9th.
In conjunction with this civil lawsuit, former CEO Lee and CEO Kim are currently under investigation for alleged fraud, breach of trust, and evasion of compulsory execution.
Source: Top Star News
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