A Sourced Breakdown of the JYJ Lawsuit
A note about Cassiopeia international fansites/forums and translations: Yunho and Changmin's enlistment period starting in 2015 was when the biggest fansites/forums such as Tohoshomnia and DBSKnights slowly went inactive. Those websites are dead now. (Though oddly enough the site where DBSKnight posted their subbed videos is still up and most of the download links are still active. 🤷🏻♀️) Much of these fansites’ information is still available on the Korean entertainment/news Livejournal community Omonatheydidnt (posts are copy and paste format), and the sources are all linked with some posts linking the original Korean source as well. Cassies took sides during this lawsuit, and new biased fansites were started this time, many of whom translated and subbed content more favorably to the side they support. Be aware of that when looking up information yourself.
JYJ filed a lawsuit against SM on July 31, 2009.
A JYJ contract was shared in November 2009. Take it with a grain of salt because we don't know who originally got the contract and how, who translated it, and if there was any bias in the translation. Clause 9 and Clause 10 about profit distribution are missing from the post due to being old images, but there are excerpts in the DNBN (the largest Korean fansite at the time) call for an SM boycott. Cuts for Clause 9 and Clause 10. See image below for further information on the boycott.
Someone else shared a compilation of the DBSK schedule from 7/7/08 through 7/20/09, which gives background on just how tired and overworked the members were. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I've also heard the members say at various times that they only got one day off a year, and this schedule leads me to believe that is true.
Like with CBX, SM blamed outside forces for JYJ suing from the beginning. SM said it was cosmetic company Crebeau that JYJ invested in, however, the courts ruled in February 2011 that Crebeau wasn't responsible.
SM canceled the 8/16/09 SMTOWN concert a week before with no real explanation. DNBN called for a boycott of SM shortly after the cancelation of the concert. (Idk whatever became of the boycott.) DNBN said that SM blamed the lawsuit issue for creating bad harmony in SMTWON as the reason for the cancelation even though all members of DBSK (using that to refer to five member TVXQ) expressed a strong desire to participate in the concert.
A court gave a partial provisional disposition (a.k.a. temporary decision) in October 2009 that JYJ's exclusive contract was invalid and that the members could do activities and have business ventures outside of SM without interference and that they could reject any schedule SM proposes. The one thing the court kept, and why it was only a partial decision, was profit distribution. SM said they would appeal this decision.
JYJ hired a separate management agency (C-JeS), public relations firm (Prain), and Warner Music Korea for album distribution and sales. That is the opposite of how things usually work in Korea where all three things are done by one entertainment agency and whomever the agency has contracts with.
10/12/10 SM filed a lawsuit for "an album sales prohibition injunction against JYJ’s first global album ‘The Beginning’ as well as an exclusive contract suspension injunction against the contract between JYJ and [JYJ's new agency] CJeS." Later in the month, SM withdrew the first half of the suit saying it was pointless since the album was already released.
"Following [SM saying there was a dual contract], the Korean Federation of Pop Culture and Arts Industry released an official notice to all broadcasting companies, label companies and online music distribution companies asking them to refrain from aiding JYJ in any way for the same reasons." C-JeS responded saying that they have no exclusive contract with JYJ and that they're "merely in charge of management that provides a route for domestic activities."
Day 1 of the JYJ trial that took place on 11/16/10. SM spouted many of the same things they did in response to CBX, including things said in the Blind post by an anonymous SM "employee."
The Korea Entertainment Producers Association "voiced their deep concern over JYJ’s exclusive contract invalidity confirmation charge" through an official statement on 1/20/11. They went on to say that they think other idols "will abuse these results" and also file lawsuits if JYJ wins.
JYJ released the album Their Rooms, "Our Story" on 1/28/11. It is a music essay album that includes essays written by the members that are about the struggles they have been going through. Yoochun wrote a song on the album titled Unnamed Song Pt. 1, which has lyrics that detail JYJ's reasoning behind their lawsuit.
"SM Entertainment filed an objection on October 27th, 2009, claiming that the Seoul Central District Court’s order to prevent them from interfering with JYJ’s individual activities was illegal." SM filed a second injunction in 2010, mentioned above, regarding JYJ's contract with C-JeS. Both injunctions were dismissed by the Seoul Central District Court on 2/17/11. The judge said a week later SM will pay 20 million won each time they interfere with JYJ activities. However, that didn't stop SM. There is no news of whether or not SM paid any fines.
The FTC found SM guilty of "interfering" with JYJ's activities in December 2011. SM and the FTC negotiated a fine of a rumored amount of about USD $87,000. There are countless examples of JYJ group activities and member solo activities being canceled last minute with no real explanation given, which highlights JYJ being blacklisted. To name a few: 2011 Jeju 7 Wonders KBS Special Live Broadcast, 2014 Incheon Asian Games, 2016 Seoul Music Awards
The third court date on 1/18/12 resulted in "the difference in opinions between both sides being unable to meet a compromise, the court decided for an additional hearing to be held on March 15th."
In March 2012, Dispatch uploaded short video and audio clips of Jaejoong and Yoochun hitting and cursing fans late at night after they were drinking. It was later revealed the "fans" were actually sasaeng. It was never made clear who gave Dispatch the clips, however, sasaeng are known to record such things as "just in case leverage" to use against the idols they stalk. The sasaeng who recorded the clips eventually came forward and admitted to purposefully doing things to goad JaeChun into lashing out and editing the clips to make them look bad. It was also later revealed that the clips were from shortly after JYJ sued in 2009 and were kicked out of their SM-provided dorm and their bodyguards were taken away - an extremely stressful time for them. AllKpop translated Dispatch's article and shared the clips about the matter which caused JaeChun to get a lot of hate from international fans. The theory is that SM orchestrated using the clips against them years after the fact (JYJ was out of the county at the time for concerts in South America when the post was uploaded) and the lawsuit was drawing closer to an end.
JYJ opened up about the "sasaeng scandal" apologizing for hitting and swearing at fans and explaining the abuse they suffered from sasaeng over the years during a press conference for their Chile concert on March 8.
JYJ filed a $100,000 civil lawsuit against Dispatch on August 1 due to the illegally recorded files (JaeChun were never told they were being recorded or filmed) they uploaded without confirming with them first back in March. Note: there is an error in the article that states the sasaeng scandal was in 2011 instead of 2012. I couldn't find any information on the result of the suit.
SM filed a countersuit after JYJ first sued in 2009 saying the contract was fair and they wanted compensation for the damages JYJ caused them. It was dismissed on 5/15/12. "Now, we’re at the point where the courts will rule upon JYJ’s first lawsuit (Exclusive Contract is Invalid) and damages against SM Entertainment which was rescheduled to take place on August 10th."
The August 10 hearing resulted in lots of BS from SM's side (Representative Kim Youngmin was there as a witness), however, JYJ's contracts were invalidated. The court encouraged "a voluntary agreement or a mediation until a decision has been made” despite the two sides never being able to come to an agreement after six and now this seventh hearing. The next trial was scheduled for September 13.
The lawsuit officially ended on 11/28/12. It was anticlimactic. "It is said that SM Entertainment and JYJ have both withdrawn all lawsuits against one another, and have agreed to not interfere with any of each other’s activities." It is thought that SM finally agreed because there were things they didn't want to be revealed through a public court ruling.
Junsu said on 11/29/12, “We [JYJ] were fighting a battle against our company (SM Entertainment) and their unlawful practices; it wasn’t that we wanted to throw away our title of ‘TVXQ’ or leave ‘TVXQ’.”
In November 2015, the "'JYJ Law' prohibiting blacklisting of celebrities passed." It hasn't had much of an effect on JYJ's blacklisting.
This is a post from 2015 detailing "sm's long history of shadiness" and starts in 2002 with the FTC ordering SM to correct unfair contracts among other things and SM filing a lawsuit in response to end that order. This comment thread from the post claims that SM never paid any of their FTC fines or the court-imposed fines for interfering with JYJ's activities due to corruption, which is a possible explanation for how they can have illegal and/or unfair contracts.
On 1/15/16 the Kpop Herald (an offshoot of the Korean news outlet Korean Herald) uploaded a post detailing the timeline of the JYJ lawsuit and the group's activities.
A new law allowing public access was to court cases was enacted in 2015 . I couldn't find sources about this on omonatheydidnt or Soompi, but I found a 2017 Koreaboo article. Details are given on the long list of things each side wanted. The court basically ruled that there was no "slave contract" and that SM didn't interfere with JYJ's activities (there likely wasn't concrete evidence to back up anything even though it is pretty well know the answer was yes they did.) More detailed info:
"The court ultimately decided on the following 6 terms:
The contract between the JYJ members and SM Entertainment was valid up until July 31, 2009, when JYJ submitted their lawsuit. Once the lawsuit was submitted, JYJ and SM Entertainment were no longer legally tied via a contract.
The only demand from JYJ that was acknowledged was their claim for money withheld in 2009. Each of the JYJ members would receive 650 million won.
Both parties will withdraw their monetary damage claims.
Both parties will not interfere with each other’s activities.
Both parties will keep the ruling a secret to the public. [Invalidated with the 2015 law]
Both parties will pay their own lawsuit fees."
Now let's switch to what happened in Japan after JYJ sued SM.
I remember Avex founder Sam-san being extremely OT5 at the beginning of the lawsuit. He tweeted many supportive OT5 things, and Avex even signed a separate contract with JYJ in early 2010. "THANKSGIVING LIVE IN DOME" concerts were decided to be held at Kyocera Dome and Tokyo Dome to thank fans.
JYJ performed at Avex's annual summer music festival A-Nation in August 2010 under the name JUNSU/JEJUNG/YUCHUN, and there was orange merch with that name on it. More updates, info (including official pictures), and fan accounts can be found on this blog.
Max-san then changed his tune (deleted all supportive OT5 tweets) and supported Yunho and Changmin only and in effect SM. An article quoting some of his tweets can be found here. The speculation is that he was pressured by SM since SM didn't like that Avex signed a separate contract with JYJ and was giving them activities, and SM therefore signed SNSD to a different agency in mid-2010 despite SM and Avex being in partnership since the early 2000s. Then on September 17, Avex announced they were pausing JYJ's activities stating the SM lawsuit could cause a problem with their contract and activities would resume once that suit was over. Avex also made allegations in their statement that the head of C-JeS's father held a high position in the mafia, he "used his father’s strength to blackmail artists, and has served a term in prison under charges of duress." Though they did say the mafia ties were unclear. This is when JYJ's blacklisting in Japan started.
JYJ’s ‘DVD Memories in 2010‘ and their album, ‘Thanksgiving Live in Dome Live CD‘, were blocked from Oricon chart rankings in early March with the reason being "Avex’s condition of distribution." This means Avex could still make money off of JYJ while Avex was unfairly hindering JYJ in Japan.
In mid-March 2011, it was announced that JYJ planned a charity concert to aid earthquake-affected areas in Japan, however, venues kept canceling. Avex told Saitama Super Arena that JYJ couldn't hold activities unless it was through them. It was that pressure that caused C-JeS and concert organizer ZAK Corporation to sue Avex for interfering in JYJ activities in Japan. Avex responded by saying they have exclusive management rights in Japan, have acted properly regarding this, and claimed to receive blackmail and threats. C-JeS argued that the exclusive contract with Avex was canceled in February due to Avex not providing/managing activities and breaching the contract.
On April 28 Avex released a statement concerning JYJ's charity event that basically reiterated the above.
JYJ's PR firm Prain said on June 6 that the provisional injunction against Avex for blocking the charity concert had been withdrawn since the concert was happening the next day. (The main part of the suit was still ongoing.) The concert was held at a sumo wrestling arena. The venue announcement was basically announced super last minute to avoid Avex interfering again. This translated blog post with a timeline of concert-organizing events from a Japanese freelance nonfiction writer is the best-detailed info I could find about all the craziness faced by JYJ and C-JeS. (Report on the charity donations from the concert.)
January 2013 C-JeS stated, "During the trial in Japan on the 18th, it was ruled that Avex cannot interfere with the Japanese promotional activities of JYJ.”
2/16/14 JYJ's lawsuit with Avex ended in the exact same way as the lawsuit with SM. “C-JeS (JYJ) and Avex have agreed to end all legal disputes that have occurred between the two parties until now. Henceforth, C-JeS (JYJ) and Avex will longer meddle in each other’s activities."