Can THE BOYZ continue to promote under the same name? IST Entertainment’s statement on trademark rights explained

On Wednesday, December 4, THE BOYZ's former agency, IST Entertainment, released a statement regarding the trademark of the K-pop boy group. It was recently announced that THE BOYZ will depart IST Entertainment following its exclusive contract expiration on December 5.

Following the same, many fans had queries on whether the group would be able to function under their group name. Since the group name's trademark is under IST Entertainment, fans were curious whether the members would change their name or not.

Therefore, IST Entertainment's statement clarified that the trademark for the name, THE BOYZ, was transferred to the members. While many fans expected the trademark to be shared or given to the group's new agency, One Hundred, they were glad to realize that the members have full rights over the group's name.

Therefore, despite the group's change of agency, they will be promoted as THE BOYZ under One Hundred and any other agency if they change companies in the future since the authority lies in the hands of the group members. Here's a part of the statement from IST Entertainment:

"The company has decided to provide '11 members of THE BOYZ' all the right to use the trademark free of charge and has already conveyed its meaning to the members. In addition, we intended to allow the use of trademark rights free of charge in any activity (unit, individual activities, etc.) agreed by the 11 members."

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IST Entertainment releases statement on THE BOYZ's trademark rights amidst the group's contract expiration

In the statement released by IST Entertainment, they clarified the many confusions around THE BOYZ's members' trademark rights with their group name. Therefore, the members have rights to the trademark, not the agency they will be housed under.

This situation has previously occurred when groups like GOT7 and iKON left their respective agencies. IST Entertainment also stated that the process was completely free of charge. This also included the early contract termination for one of the 11 members who still had six months left on his contract.

"Furthermore, for one member who still has about 6 months of exclusive contract, we decided to terminate his exclusive contract early, regardless of the remaining exclusive contract period, as a support for his activities at the new agency. We has already conveyed this intention to the member."

They also explained the reason behind their intention to provide the members with the rights rather than their new agency. This was to smoothen the group's activities and promotions for the long run.

"We thought it would be more correct to provide the 'members themselves' with the right to use the trademark free of charge in support of the permanence of the team who is receiving a lot of love from the public, called THE BOYZ, and their meetings with the fans."

IST Entertainment also responded to One Hundred's previous statement that accused the agency of being unreasonable with the trademark rights negotiation. One Hundred also stated that the trademark rights were unsuccessful and didn't reach a positive outcome. Here's what IST Entertainment wrote:

"The statements that 'we demanded excessive trademark value' and that 'we made demands beyond the usual level from the new company' are also not true. Rather, we were in an open position to wait for various proposals regarding trademark rights, and we only talked about some principled and ordinary things for a smooth transition."

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They concluded their statement by expressing that though the agency's relationship with THE BOYZ has come to an end, they stated that they will continue to support the members in future activities in case of any inconveniences.