The court ruled in favor of THE GIVERS in the legal dispute surrounding the copyright of the global hit song “Cupid” by the group FIFTY FIFTY.
According to the legal community, the 5-2nd Civil Division of the Seoul High Court rejected the entirety of the plaintiff’s appeal during the appeal trial of the action for confirmation of copyrights filed by ATTRAKT last January. ATTRAKT considered an appeal to the Supreme Court but finally decided not to do so, thus confirming the result of the trial by the final victory of THE GIVERS.
The court judged, through the first and second instances, that THE GIVERS is the contracting party of the copyright assignment contract, and that all substantial acts such as the contract conclusion process and the assumption of costs were carried out by THE GIVERS. The court also rejected ATTRAKT‘s requests regarding whether or not the mission of acquiring copyrights was included in the service contract or the recognition as a co-author, stating that “the interpretation of the contract must be based on the very text of the contractual document and not on the internal intention”.
Regarding this, an ATTRAKT official stated on April 6:
“After careful consideration, we have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court, and we regret the difference between reality and legal interpretation. We will focus more on the lawsuits on the merits such as tampering and obstruction of duties, rather than on the copyright lawsuit”.
FIFTY FIFTY acquired global popularity with “Cupid”, notably succeeding in reaching 17th place on the American Billboard “HOT 100” and staying in the ranking for 15 consecutive weeks. Since then, the group is loved for numerous songs such as “Sos”, “Gravity”, “Pookie”, “Eeny meeny miny moe” and “Starry night”.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: SNS FIFTY FIFTY
