Entertainer Ordered to Compensate for Contract Breach

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

An entertainer must compensate for damages when they annul a contract unilaterally, even if the entertainment agency is not fulfilling its duty.

The Seoul High Court ruled Tuesday in favor of an entertainment agency in a case involving one of its entertainers, who broke her contract unilaterally.

The agency had failed to pay money owed to the entertainer, identified only as Lee. But according to the ruling, Lee was required to ask the agency to fulfill its contractual duties and cancel the contract only after the agency showed no intention of living up to them.

The agency requested 80 million won ($64,000) in compensation, but the court ordered Lee to pay only 30 million won, which is the double the amount the agency spent for the entertainer.

Lee signed a contract with the agency in 2005, entrusting the agency with all her rights regarding the entertainment industry and to split the accruing profits in half. In the case of Lee breaking the contract, she was required to compensate twice the amount the agency paid for her.

After a year, when the agency did not distribute her share of profits, Lee notified the agency about the annulment of the contract. The agency said it would pay her share within a month, but Lee refused and unilaterally terminated the contract.

The ruling came after TVXQ, a five-member K-pop group popular in Asia, submitted an application for provisional disposition to terminate the validity of their contract with SM Entertainment earlier this month.

Actor Yun Sang-hyun, who starred in "My Wife Is a Superwoman," was also accused of cancelling his contract by his former agency.

To prevent increasing disputes, the Fair Trade Commission put forth a standardized form of contracts, but experts point out that it is only a recommendation and does not have any legal power.

Source

Comments

[wrongbyright.livejournal.com]

WTF?

[zomoandzo.livejournal.com]

what.
compensate twice the amount the agency paid
that means TVXQ is gonna pay like A LOT.

[goldi.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's the same thing? they tried several times to work it out with their agency and this girl didn't.

[wondererx.livejournal.com]

it's true that this isn't fair and that the penalty is too harsh... but i feel she shouldn't have ended the contract right then and there :/

[hater-traitor.livejournal.com]

Whether or not this will affect DBSK, it still makes me feel so uneasy.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

read the contract and stop being greedy for fame

[umbrella-smile.livejournal.com]

MTE

[carrotsandroses.livejournal.com]

Considering how most of these guys are teenagers when they sign up, they're usually too blinded by the prospect of fame to look into the details of these contracts.

[anathema-switch.livejournal.com]

If you're a minor doesn't a parent/guardian have to approve?
I'm pretty sure that their parents are at least slightly involved in the contract signing.

[purplesky.livejournal.com]

I was a little "ehhh" at first but then I reread it and decided whoever Lee is, they don't sound very flexible. She didn't really give the company any time to try to make her happy and just bailed on them when they said they'd give her money in a month, and not ~*now*~.

So... this isn't really like the DBSK issue. Like, at all, is it? I mean, the boys aren't asking SM to live up to the terms of the contract they signed, they asked SM to change the terms of the contract they signed, citing it as unfair, and SM refused. And now the boys and SM are squabbling about what exactly the terms of the contract are and how much money they make. :/

So, DBSK fans, no need to freak out, yeah? :D

[mumbles.livejournal.com]

haha word bb <3

[izabera.livejournal.com]

The agency said it would pay her share within a month, but Lee refused and unilaterally terminated the contract.

I think it all boils down to this - she should have got that offer in writing and THEN terminate the contract if they failed to pay.

The fact that they failed to honour their side of the contract should automatically have made it invalid (after a certain period of time). I guess that clause was missing in the original contract.

[wenzi.livejournal.com]

People just claim they don't understand complex laws and all that crap in the end.. Then first, don't get into them if you don't think you're capable of dealing with them. TSK.