HYBE recently secured a partial win in its defamation lawsuit against a YouTuber who accused ILLIT of plagiarizing NewJeans choreography.
The court ruled that the YouTuber had damaged HYBE’s reputation by uploading around 30 videos without properly verifying the claims. Some of those videos reportedly reached millions of views. As a result, the court ordered the YouTuber to pay ₩15.0 million KRW (about $9,940 USD) in damages.
However, this was significantly lower than the ₩300 million KRW (about $199,000 USD) HYBE initially sought.
Importantly, the court also stated that there was no clear evidence to confirm the plagiarism claims. It emphasized that the allegations were presented without sufficient proof, which ultimately led to the defamation ruling. The decision has since been finalized, with neither side filing an appeal.
Despite this, the response online has been far from straightforward.
Rather than treating it as a decisive win, many fans are questioning what the ruling actually proves. Some believe that even without official documents or internal materials, the fact that HYBE only won partially is a huge hint at what the rest of the NewJeans and Min Hee Jin’s fights with HYBE could look like.
The fact that a random YouTuber who doesn’t have much evidence like official internal documents, planning files, and other materials still partially won says a lot about how visible the plagiarism is 😭 https://t.co/WJDgHMqC6F
— gabii°• (@phamiiyy) April 7, 2026
are you not going to talk about how this verdict was from Feb 10 and only reported now for a timely pity party marketing?
frame it how you want but the fact is that even w/o mhj’s shareholder win on Feb 12, a youtuber still had a partial win over hybe with less evidence lmao https://t.co/7Y98DShoEz pic.twitter.com/gRlhjDwdq7
— lyvꕤ (@breadjeanz_) April 7, 2026
Others are also raising eyebrows at the timing. HYBE only began highlighting the result recently, even though the ruling was finalized months ago. This has led to speculation about whether the company is trying to control the narrative, especially as its ongoing conflict with Min Hee Jin remains in the spotlight.
FYI, this ruling is from February… before MHJ’s landslide win against HYBE in the shareholder agreement and put-option lawsuits. A lot has changed since then, and the broader context surrounding all of this has shifted significantly.
The question that needs to be asked is why… https://t.co/eE5moB1fqT
— 1tokki (@juantokki) April 7, 2026
hybe releasing articles on a 2-month old ruling proves illit needs the newjeans promo once again but the funniest thing is the fact that after mhj won her case against hybe, belift has done nothing but postpone their own defamation case against mhj despite this so called win 😂😂 https://t.co/4rYF4iMpKx
— jenbluuu (@jenbluuu) April 7, 2026
hybe trying to media play that defamation lawsuit when that went down in feb….before the court ruled in favor of mhj for both the shareholder’s agreement and put options claim oh…and this… https://t.co/YtU2zbEqMj pic.twitter.com/u9b3Y6jCWB
— PoppyKPoppie (@PoppyKPoppie) April 7, 2026
At the same time, fans point out that other related legal battles have yet to see clear progress. ADOR’s lawsuit against Danielle has in particular sparked hope among NewJeans fans, as the HYBE sublabel was recently rejected by the court. You can read all about it below.
ADOR Suffers Rejection By Court During NewJeans’ Danielle Lawsuit