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On Monday, January 8, Pledis Entertainment responded to the plagiarism accusations for the TWS logo through the South Korean media outlet Newsen. Recently, a Korea-based custom watch brand, TWM, accused Pledis of copying their logo for the agency's upcoming K-pop boy group by posting stories on their official Instagram account.
While many netizens agreed with the uncanny similarities, Pledis soon responded by stating that no plagiarism was involved and the logo was independently created through an outsourcing company that collaborated with them. However, in order to further settle the issue, the agency personally met with the TWM's staff members and cleared the misunderstandings that divided them.
In their interview with Newsen, Pledis Entertainment stated:
“We met with the company representative in person and provided a generation explanation of the logo creation process and all misunderstandings were amicably resolved.”
Pledis Entertainment responds to plagiarism allegations for TWS' logo following accusations from the custom watch strap brand TWM
On January 3, the Korea-based watch strap brand TWM took to its official Instagram account and shared that its brand's official logo had been plagiarised by Pledis Entertainment for their upcoming K-pop boy group, TWS. The brand also shared that the logo was a personally created piece and that they were offended by the agency for allegedly stealing their work.
The official Instagram post read:
"A group called TWS copied and used my logo. A very similar logo, it’s a logo I drew by hand and has trademark rights to…This is a frustrating start to a new year…I will have to report this as trademark infringement through a lawyer tomorrow. If you compare the group’s logo to my precious creation..it’s just outrageous. It’s a precious logo with trademark protection under my name. I can’t just let this go."
They continued:
"I have been using the TWM strap logo since September 2018, and it is my own creation that has registered trademark rights. I cannot accept copies. This logo is the face of my brand. I have received threat messages, and I will be capturing them and reporting them. I contacted the Pledis officials regarding the logo but received no response from Instagram. The logo is a valuable asset of mine that I drew by hand and trademarked based on it."
The brand also stated that Pledis Entertainment failed to respond when they tried contacting them and put forth that they'd be taking legal action if silence from the agency's side continued:
"Designs that copy this are unacceptable. It is especially disappointing that an entertainment company whose name is life took care of the matter without even properly checking it. As soon as you see it, please leave your contact information or contact me on my YouTube channel or Instagram. If you do not contact us in this regard, we will take legal action through a lawyer. This logo is my creative work and a precious logo that I have been using for several years."
Soon after the controversy garnered attention, Pledis Entertainment sat down with the Korean news media outlet Newsen and shared that the misunderstandings between the two parties had been resolved. They also added:
"The TWS logo was created independently by an outsourcing company that worked with us."
Following Pledis Entertainment's response, the custom watch strap brand also released a statement confirming that there have been misunderstandings regarding the issue:
"We met directly with Pledis staff and the external designer who developed the TWS logo, and received an overall explanation of the TWS logo production process. In conclusion, both I and the designer created the logo to the best of our abilities. We confirmed that the other party did not plagiarize my logo. Unfortunately, both sides were victims. Through this conversation, we resolved misunderstandings, and we hope TWS will do well in the future."
As the long-running controversy of Pledis Entertainment plagiarising the logo of TWM has come to a conclusive end, netizens are now looking forward to the group's activities in the future.
