New Jeans’ new team name ‘NJZ’... Will there be any trademark rights issues? [Sukyeong

There is a possibility of recognition of similarity to the existing New Genes trademark.
The legal community also has mixed opinions.

The legal community is also expressing different opinions about the five members of the group New Jeans (Minzy, Hani, Daniel, Hae-rin, and Hye-in) changing their team name to NJZ.

On the 7th, New Jeans members modified their newly opened Instagram account ‘jeanszforfree’ to ‘njz_official’. Afterwards, they announced that they would be working under the name ‘NJZ’ in the future by writing, “Minzy, Hani, Daniel, Hae-rin, and Hye-in’s new group name is NJZ. Please look forward to the surprising journey we will take with NJ-Z in 2025!” They also announced a lineup under the group name ‘NJZ’ for a concert held in Hong Kong in March.

However, the issue of trademark rights for their new group name ‘NJZ’ came to mind. This is because the new activity name ‘NJZ’ is taken from the initial consonant of the pronunciation NewJeans.

Attorney Kim Tae-hwan, an intellectual property expert at Daeryun Law Firm, told Sports Kyunghyang, “It is difficult to say that NewJeans and NJ are similar in appearance and name. However, from the perspective of general consumers, it is possible to recognize the similarity as they can easily intuit that the capitalized part of ‘NewJeans’ is used.”

He went on to say, “If the New Jeans members are active under the new group name ‘NJZ,’ there is a possibility that the issue of trademark infringement may arise in addition to the ongoing ‘exclusive contract validity confirmation lawsuit.’” He also mentioned that the team name ‘NJZ’ could affect the ongoing legal dispute and activities.

However, another lawyer who requested anonymity cautiously expressed his opposition, saying, “‘NJZ’ may remind you of New Jeans, but there does not seem to be a problem with the trademark rights themselves.” The lawyer said, “The standard for judging similarity is ‘Will consumers be confused?’ It seems unlikely that they will be confused with the brand name New Genes just by looking at NJ.”

Ultimately, it appears that a legal dispute will be inevitable in order for ‘NJZ’ to be recognized as an official group name and register trademark rights.

There have been cases where groups that were once very popular were unable to use their existing group name due to trademark issues with their former agency. BEAST (now Highlight) was unable to use the name ‘Beast’ after leaving Cube Entertainment in 2016, and eventually continued their activities under the new group name ‘Highlight’. After disbanding in 2021, the group GFRIEND also resumed activities by forming a new group called VIVIZ, as their agency Source Music owns the group name.

On the other hand, there are also cases of ‘Beautiful Farewell’ where activities are continued under a similar name after consultation even if the original agency has the trademark rights. ‘Brave Girls’, which changed its team name to ‘BBGIRLS’, is a representative example. However, this does not seem to be easy in the current situation of New Genes, which is in dispute with Adore.

Online reporter Kang Shin-woo (ssinu423@kyunghyang.com)

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New Jeans' new team name 'NJZ'... Will there be any trademark rights issues? [Skyung