The Boyz Trademark Dispute… One Hundred “Unreasonable Conditions” vs. IST “Must Provide Rights to Members” [Comprehensive]

As the group The Boyz is leaving IST Entertainment and discussing ‘all transfers’ to One Hundred, the conflict between the two agencies over the group‘s trademark rights is deepening.

One Hundred, which is negotiating contracts with all members of The Boyz, claimed on the 4th, “During the process of IST Entertainment conditionally negotiating trademark rights related to The Boyz with the artists, One Hundred was unable to accept the trademark rights that the artists have protected for 7 years due to IST Entertainment’s unreasonable negotiation conditions.

They stated, “Until now, One Hundred has been doing its best to negotiate with IST Entertainment regarding trademark rights. The Boyz artists also said, “We tried our best until today to maintain the trademark for our fans, but we express deep regret to IST Entertainment for not getting good results.”

They continued, “One Hundred puts The Boyz and their fans first, and we wanted to transfer to another agency where everything was amicably agreed upon without any flaws or scars. Until December 5, the end of the contract, One Hundred will do its best in negotiating related to the trademark with an open mind, and even if the negotiations fall through, we will thoroughly prepare so that the current Boyz members can promote under a better brand name. Lastly, One Hundred will always show that we are doing our best from the perspective of the artists and fans.”
IST Entertainment immediately released a rebuttal. They stated, “We regret the recent clear misinformation regarding trademark rights and would like to correct this,” and “Contrary to what has been reported, our company has decided to provide the free trademark usage rights to all ‘The Boyz 11 members’, and we have already conveyed this intention to the members.”

IST Entertainment said, “We wanted to allow the free usage of the trademark in any activities (such as unit and individual activities) that the 11 members agree to,” and added that the members with about 6 months left on their exclusive contracts have decided to terminate their exclusive contracts early regardless of the period out of “the desire to support activities with the new agency.”

They emphasized that they decided to provide the free trademark usage rights to the members themselves, who are the ‘main body of the team’, and not the ‘new agency’, and said, “This is a decision made based on our consideration for a deeper and smoother encounter and active activities between the members and fans in the future.” “We thought it would be more correct to provide the free usage rights to the ‘members’,” they explained.

IST Entertainment also claimed that the statements that ‘they reportedly demanded an excessive trademark price’ and ‘they made demands that went beyond the normal level to the new company’ were not true. They said, “Rather, our company was in a position to wait for various proposals with an open attitude regarding trademark rights, and we only had some theoretical and routine discussions for a smooth handover,” and added, “Our relationship with The Boyz has unfortunately come to an end, but we promise to support The Boyz so that they will not experience any inconvenience in their future activities, and we will sincerely cheer on their future endeavors.”
One Hundred‘s Statement

This is One Hundred, the new agency where The Boyz members will be transferring to.

During the process of IST Entertainment, The Boyz’s agency, conditionally negotiating trademark rights related to The Boyz with its artists, One Hundred was unable to accept the trademark rights that the artists had protected for 7 years due to the unreasonable negotiation conditions of IST Entertainment.

One Hundred has been doing its best to negotiate with IST Entertainment regarding trademark rights. The Boyz artists also did their best until today to maintain the trademark for their fans, but we express deep regret to IST Entertainment for not getting good results.

One Hundred put The Boyz and their fans first, and wanted to transfer to another agency where everything was amicably agreed upon without any flaws or scars.

Therefore, One Hundred will do its best in trademark-related negotiations with an open mind until December 5, the contract expiration date, and even if the negotiations fall through, One Hundred will thoroughly prepare so that the current Boyz members can promote under a better brand name.

Lastly, One Hundred promises to always do its best from the artists and fans‘ perspective.

IST Entertainment’s official position regarding The Boyz‘s trademark

Hello.
This is IST Entertainment.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the fans for the recent and clearly false information regarding trademark rights. We regret and would like to correct this.

Contrary to what was reported, we have already conveyed our intention to the members to provide the free use of the trademark to all ‘The Boyz 11 members’.

In addition, we wanted to allow the free use of the trademark in any activities (such as unit and individual activities) that the 11 members agree to.

Furthermore, we have decided to terminate the exclusive contract early for one member who still has about 6 months left on his/her exclusive contract, regardless of the remaining period of the exclusive contract, in support of his/her activities with a new agency, and we have already conveyed our intention to the member in question.

The reason we wanted to provide the free use of the trademark to the members themselves, the ‘main body of the team’, rather than the new agency, was a decision we made after considering the need for a deeper and smoother encounter and active activities between the members and the fans in the future.

We decided to provide the free use of the trademark to support the continuation of the team called The Boyz, which is loved by many people, and the barrier-free encounter with the fans. We thought it would be more correct to provide it to the ‘members themselves’.

The rumors that ‘they reportedly demanded an excessive trademark price’ and the rumors that ‘they made demands that went beyond the normal level to the new company’ are also different from the truth. Rather, our company was in the position of waiting for various proposals with an open attitude regarding the trademark rights, and we only had some theoretical and normal discussions for a smooth handover.

The relationship between our company and The Boyz has come to an end unfortunately, but we promise to support The Boyz so that they do not experience any inconvenience in their future activities, and we will sincerely cheer on their future endeavors.

Jung Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com