omonatheydid | After Years Of Legal Battles Shinhwa Finally Got The Rights To Their Name

Shinhwa shared on their official page "The name is now fully ours"

Shinhwa and Shincom Entertainment, which had been involved in a lawsuit with Jun Media over its trademark license agreement, was awarded the rights to the name ‘Shinhwa’ on the 27th following a final decision by the court and a mutual agreement between the two parties.

Jun Media had been the owner of the trademark rights to the group name ‘Shinhwa’ following a transfer of those rights from the original owner SM Entertainment. In 2012, it and Shincom Entertainment entered a lawsuit regarding their trademark license agreement. In August 2014, a decision was reached, but Shincom Entertainment appealed to a higher court after it was given a partial defeat in the case.

To avert any further trouble, Shinhwa avoided using its name on its albums since its 11th, only using its logo. It also changed in August 2014 the name of its agency ‘Shinhwa Company’ to ‘Shincom Entertainment’, minimizing the use of the name ‘Shinhwa’ and showing it was giving the drawn out and challenging issue its utmost attention.

Finally on the 27th, following a reasonable arbitration process between Jun Media and Shincom Entertainment, the court ruled that the rights to the name ‘Shinhwa’ should be transferred to the group Shinhwa. The actual transfer process started on the 29th, and legal steps for a nominal transfer are now being taken.

Shinhwa plans to be more active in the music and contents areas it had previously been unable to fully engage due to the dispute. The name of the group’s agency ‘Shincom Entertainment’ will also be changed again to ‘Shinhwa Company’, the name the agency was first founded as in 2011.

Shincom Entertainment commented, “We’re excited to have regained the rights to our precious name following a long dispute. We thank the fans for their support and for helping Shinhwa protect its name. We’ll continue to do our best to let the name shine brighter.”

Shinhwa will hold its third Asia tour concert in Nanjing, China on June 20th.

(Original Source:SportChosun News

Here is the official statement from ShinCom:

The Name Shinhwa Is Now Fully Ours

Good afternoon, this is Shincom Entertainment.

As you may now know from the reports, Shincom Entertainment was given the trademark rights to the name ‘Shinhwa’ following an agreement reached with Jun Media on the 27th, and the legal nominal transfer process is currently underway.

We believe you, the fans, would have been the happiest of us all after hearing this news.

We also believe you would have reminisced on all the trouble we had encountered due to this trademark issue, and the great meaning this decision holds for us today.

For the past 17 years Shinhwa had been active as Shinhwa but the name was never fully available to the group. We understand how much not only the Shinhwa members but also the fans suffered due to the trouble caused by this issue.

We’ve now won back our name, ‘Shinhwa’, following a long fight, and Shinhwa and Shincom Entertainment will do our best to let the name shine brighter.

We thank the fans for their support, and we will make sure to return your love with even better activities and promotions to come under the name of ‘Shinhwa’.

Thank you again for keeping ‘Shinhwa’ alive for 17 years.

Congrats to them!

Source:Shinhwastuff Tumblr 1|2, Shinhwacompany.co.kr