“No book about BTS is allowed to be published without permission”, HYPE cited an injunction against the publication
The company of BTS cited an injunction against the publishers and representatives who published books related to BTS without permission.
According to the legal community on August 14 at the 60th civil agreement of Seoul Central District Court, it is said that HYBE has filed an application for an injunction, including a ban on publishing books, against writers A and B.
The publisher B intended to publish 4 books in which more than 50% of the books’ contents are BTS‘s photos, lyrics, and interviews. Moreover, B set the price for the books to be sold at about 190,000 won.
The judge spoke in favor of HYBE, saying that BTS‘s contents, such as songs and videos, are achievements made with considerable investment and effort. These contents cannot be regarded as belonging to the public for everyone to use freely. It is also stated that the act of B publishing a book with the HYBE‘s contents is unfair competition.
The judge said that publisher B did use HYBE‘s contents to publish and sell books. B did not attend the interrogation and did not respond either. Therefore, the judge ordered indirect coercion for B, pointing out that B might not comply with the injunction. On the other hand, HYBE‘s demand for disposal of the products was not accepted.
