Why do K-pop labels apply for trademarks? After Loona's Chuu, GFriend wins against Source Music
Oftentimes after K-pop labels and their artists part ways after the termination of their contracts, the two parties end things on rough terms. Be it mistreatment or forceful disbandment, over the last few years, some groups who have faced the wrath of K-pop labels have had fans talking about the injustice done to some idols. Over the last few months, fans of GFriend have been stating their displeasure with Source Music for wrongfully disbanding their favorite girl group.
Many K-pop labels have been under fire for ostracizing one member in order to stop them from growing more popular than the rest of the group. One such idol is Chuu of Loona who was recently in a trademark battle with her K-pop label Blockberry Creative. Over the last few months, the label tried to trademark Chuu's stage name but the case was ruled in her favor, making it possible for Chuu to freely be able to use her own stage name in the event of her leaving the label and the group.
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Why do K-pop labels trademark the names of artists and groups?
Since idols are more or less known by their group and stage names, K-pop labels often trademark group or stage names for one of two reasons. With labels trademarking names, they are adept at preventing outside parties from using them illegally to gain profit. This also helps labels to protect the group or the individual's name in the process.
However, trademarking a name also enables a label to grab a hold of the name and make it harder for idols and groups to leave the company if they want to promote as their old group. Such is the case with GFriend who recently won a trademark battle with their former label Source Music.
Will GFriend re-debut?
The disbandment of GFriend came as a shock to fans as well as the contemporaries of the girl group as it was unforeseen. After GFriend's disbandment, fans started vocalizing their anger towards Source Music for ending the girl group that brought the label from rags to riches. As the members still have a strong fanbase, there have been talks about members of GFriend making their re-debut as a full group in the near future.
In the past, Source Music was successfully able to trademark the girl group's logo but it feels like they make an error in the past when they missed out on trademarking the name 'GFriend' with which the girl group promoted. On July 25, Source Music's application to trademark GFriend's group name was officially rejected by the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
It has been reported that the applied trademark 'G-Friend' from Source Music is similar to 'GFRIEND', the English name of the girl group Girlfriend (GFriend). Now, thanks to this, the members of GFriend are free to open to activities not only with the name of the girl group they made their debut with.