A court ruling came out that the separation process between Son Heung-min and former management company ‘Sports United’ was legal. The 17th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Kim Seong-won) said in a lawsuit filed by ICM Stella Korea CEO Jang Ki-young against Son & Football Limited on the 1st, “A payment of 247 million won in money settle for 4 commercials in 2019. Do it,” he said. Son & Football Limited is a management company run by Son Heung-min’s father, Son Woong-jeong (61). ACM Stella Korea (formerly ‘Sports United’) CEO Jang Ki-young was Son Heung-min’s management company, but broke up in 2019.
In June 2019, Son Heung-min announced his intention to terminate the contract when Jang decided to sell his company to Company A, which also serves as a drama production and management company. In an official contract termination notice in November of that year, he said, “I said clearly that I only want to play football, I’m not greedy for money, and I don’t want to do it, but in November, my face . was included in the materials for the briefing and there was business progress,” he said, he announced that he would cancel. Mr. Jang then filed a lawsuit claiming a total of 2.7 billion won, saying, “I legally sold the stock based on an exclusive agent contract and suffered damages due to unfair contract termination.”
The key was whether Jang had Son Heung-min’s ‘exclusive agent contract’. Mr Jang sent an email with the ‘reserved agent contract’ (written in July 2018), and suggested that the termination of the contract was unfair. It is argued that Sports United also has the authority to sign an advertisement for Son Heung-min and use the portrait right. Regarding this, Son Heung-min refuted via email, saying, “I have never signed such a contract with my own hand, and my father has never signed an agent contract, so isn’t that a crime?”
The court judged that, apart from the form of ‘work pay’, Mr. Jang the ‘authority to close (Son Heung-min advertisement)’ and ‘right to use or allow the use of Son Heung-min’s portrait’. ok’. As a result of the handwriting evaluation, one appraiser decided that it matched Son Heung-min’s handwriting, but another appraiser saw it as a fake, saying, “There is a third of the signature, which is divided into three parts, like the real one, but the other two thirds are unnatural.”
The court ruled that the exclusive agent contract had not been established, saying that there was a possibility that someone would imitate Son Heung-min’s signature, taking into account the results of the evaluation and the circumstances at the time of writing the contract. The judge said, “If Son Heung-min’s relationship with company A continues, his portrait rights will be excessively used in commercial advertisements, he will have no choice but to participate in unwanted entertainment activities, and he will not be able to focus on sports. as a football player.” He said, “The relationship of trust has been broken.” As a result, 1.8 billion won in damages due to the termination of a contract was not recognized, and it was ruled that only settlements for certain advertisements should be paid pay
