SM Entertainment Files Civil Lawsuit Against EXO-CBX

On June 27th, Newsis reported that the members of EXO-CBX had submitted a countersuit against SM Entertainment at the Seoul Eastern District Court on the 25th. This was in response to SM’s civil lawsuit against them, which demanded that the three members fulfill their contracts.

CBX stated that they have filed a countersuit in order to rightfully obtain the settlement funds that were agreed upon during their 12-13 year exclusive contracts with SM.

In collaboration with INB100, the trio also took legal action against SM Entertainment’s co-CEOs Lee Sung-soo and Tak Young-joon at the Seoul Seongdong Police Station on the 25th, accusing them of fraud. CBX alleged, “During our dispute last year, SM made false promises to us about setting the distribution fee for our music and album sales at 5.5%,”and further stated, “They did not honor this agreement and instead deceived us into accepting a 10% cut from our individual activities each quarter under the new exclusive contract.”

INB100 stated that they sued SM because they believed the company had unlawfully profited by taking a 10% cut from the revenue generated by individual activities of CBX members.

The ongoing dispute between CBX and SM saw CBX’s representatives holding an emergency press conference on the 10th to announce their stance. In response, SM pointed out that the core issue of the case is the involvement of MC Mong and INB100’s CEO Cha Ga-won. They also clarified that the clause regarding 10% of individual sales is a standard that was determined through court arbitration in a previous contract dispute with EXO’s Chinese members, and has been consistently applied as a reasonable standard with precedents.

Later, CBX reiterated their stance, reiterating that “SM should not alter the fundamental nature of the case and should disclose the settlement data as the artists have the right to be informed.”