Fifty Fifty appeals court decision to stay with agency Attrakt

Concept photo for Fifty Fifty's "Cupid" [ATTRAKT]

Girl group Fifty Fifty will appeal a decision made earlier this week by a local court requiring that it stay with its current agency Attrakt, reiterating members' wishes to leave the company.

"We have decided to appeal immediately," said Barun Law, the legal attorney of the four Fifty Fifty members.

"We believe that the arguments made during the hearing for the injunction need to be tried at a formal court of law. In addition to the decision to discard the injunction [on the exclusive contracts], we will also be filing a lawsuit on the allegations made during the injunction process."

The Seoul Central District Court on Monday sided with Attrakt in a dismissal of the band's plea to have its exclusive contract with the agency nullified. The decision came two months after the four-member girl group filed for an injunction on their contracts with Attrakt on June 19, arguing that the members had been treated unfairly by the company.

The quartet argued that Attrakt failed to provide the necessary files related to the girl group's income and how it was divided between the company and the members, and that CEO Oscar Jun had broken the trust between the girl group by misusing investment money that should have gone toward Fifty Fifty.

The court found that although Attrakt did fail to notify Fifty Fifty of data related to income distribution, it was not often enough to break the exclusive contract between the two parties. The company also did not neglect members' health or force them to perform despite their health conditions, the court said.

Fifty Fifty has been one of the hottest girl groups of 2023, with its song making the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the British Official Chart within just months of its debut last November. It has been in a legal battle since last June.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]