14 NJZ trademarks rejected... remaining 40 could face same fate

The Intellectual Property Office has made a decision to reject the registration of 14 out of the NJZ trademarks filed by the NewJeans members as a new group name. This is the first rejection decision for some of the total 54 applications.

According to media reports, on the 4th, the Intellectual Property Office sent notices of rejection for 14 figurative trademarks, which feature the NJZ characters placed inside a shape reminiscent of a rabbit's head, among the NJZ trademarks jointly filed by MINJI, Danielle, HANNI, Haerin, and Hyein. Previously, on May 29 and June 5, the Intellectual Property Office sent notices of submission of opinions regarding the 54 NJZ trademark applications.

A notice of submission of opinions is a procedure where, when there is a determination that there are grounds to reject trademark registration, the applicant is informed of the reasons before the final decision and given an opportunity to rebut through the submission of an opinion or amendment. The Intellectual Property Office viewed that the figurative trademarks in question are similar in appearance and composition ratio to the rabbit-head motif lightstick that has been recognized as representing NewJeans' products.

Furthermore, it judged that the trademarks have an improper purpose of obtaining unfair profits or causing damage to a specific person, and viewed them as being based on the pre-registered trademark 'NewJeans' of ADOR. It also judged that this constitutes a violation of the principle of good faith under the Trademark Act, which restricts the registration of trademarks that are identical or similar to another person's trademark learned through contractual relationships and such.

The members did not submit rebuttal opinions or amendments by the deadline for submission of opinions, which was July 29. As no separate response was confirmed thereafter, the Intellectual Property Office determined there were no matters to overturn the existing reasons for rejection and made the final decision to reject. NewJeans previously lost the dispute over the termination of their exclusive contracts with ADOR, and Haerin, Hyein, and HANNI sequentially announced their return to ADOR, while MINJI is still in discussions. ADOR has filed a damages lawsuit against Danielle and her family, as well as the former CEO Min, and the claim amount has been adjusted from approximately 43 billion won to approximately 33.09 billion won.

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