The Seoul Seocho-gu District Court has dismissed duo Tasty's lawsuit against their former agency Woollim Entertainment as well as their parent company SM C&C, Naver reported.
"We are dismissing the plaintiff's claim. The plaintiff will be responsible for the entire cost of the lawsuit," the court's verdict released on Thursday, June 23, read.
Tasty, which is made up of Chinese twins Daeryong and Soryong, filed a case against their talent agency in 2015 for contract termination. Their legal counsel argued that the artists' contract with the agency is invalid as the company has failed to balance accounts and treat the two fairly, according to K Music. Furthermore, the duo also claimed "unfair treatment and discrimination" as they were being compared with the agency's other talents.
In response, the defendant claimed that they had "established and balanced accounts according to the rules for standard exclusive contracts. We cannot accept how they unilaterally stated their contract was invalid."
The company explained that the twins failed to bring in profits despite the investment allocated to them. "It's not that they were not paid but rather that their profit was smaller than the amount invested in comparison," SM C&C said, according to Soompi. "If an agency singer does not make a profit, it is a loss for the company, so there is no reason to treat them unfairly. The plaintiff's claim is unfair. There is no reason to terminate the exclusive contract."
According to the court, the contract between both parties still stands. It would be interesting to observe Tasty's working relationship with Woollim following their case.
