Starship Entertainment, the agency of IVE's Jang Won-young, filed a defamation lawsuit against the YouTuber Reckless, receiving a partial victory in the first trial.
According to legal sources on the 4th, the Seoul Central District Court's Civil 50th Division (Judge Choi Mi-young) ruled in favor of Starship in its defamation lawsuit against A, the operator of 'Reckless.' The court ordered, "A must pay 50 million won to Starship Entertainment."
Earlier, Starship Entertainment filed a $1 million defamation lawsuit against A in November 2022, stating that the continuous dissemination of false information caused serious defamation, obstructing the company's operations and causing significant distress to both the artists and fans.
During the trial, A expressed opinions and claimed to have posted videos for the public good, but the court did not accept A's claims.
The court noted that A's acts of creating and posting the videos "damaged the honor and credit of Starship Entertainment to the extent that social evaluation was impaired and its business operations were hindered," deciding that A is responsible for compensating the non-economic damages incurred by Starship Entertainment.
In particular, regarding the videos posted about Jang Won-young, the court pointed out that "the videos appeared to be made based on objective facts, but the videos included by A were either arbitrarily edited or only excerpts from unclear sources of criticism against Jang Won-young, which cannot serve as objective evidence, yet viewers may misinterpret them as truthful content."
Furthermore, taking into account the subscriber count and viewership of the Reckless channel, the court found that A's actions negatively affected IVE's image and activities, consequently impacting Starship Entertainment's operations as well. The court also explained the scope of damages by considering "the content and number of each video, the standing of Starship Entertainment within the entertainment management industry, the proportion of IVE and Jang Won-young within the agency, and A’s significant influence as a representative of the socially controversial 'cyber Reckless,' which recorded view counts ranging from at least 100,000 to over 1 million per video."
Meanwhile, A has been indicted for producing and posting YouTube videos defaming seven public figures, including IVE's Jang Won-young, from October 2021 to June 2023, under accusations of defamation and insult according to the Information and Communication Network Utilization and Protection Act. A received a two-year prison sentence with a three-year probation in the first trial, and the appeal process is ongoing. Separately, the court had previously ruled that A must pay 50 million won to Jang Won-young in the defamation lawsuit she filed against him.
Additionally, A was fined 10 million won for defaming Kang Daniel and received a ruling for 30 million won in a damages lawsuit. Furthermore, A was also ordered to pay 76 million won to BTS members V and Jungkook. Amid this, A faced a loss in the damage compensation lawsuit against Starship Entertainment, leading to an additional payment of 50 million won.
[Photo] OSEN DB
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