CNBLUE Lawsuit Accusing Indie Band Crying Nut Of Libel Gets Thrown Out In Seoul Central District Court

An anti-defamation filed by South Korean rock band CNBLUE and their record label FNC Entertainment, against the group Crying Nut, was tossed out in Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday.

CNBLUE and their record label had sought an injunction to prevent Crying Nut from posting libelous comments about the band.

Crying Nut filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against CNBLUE back in February.

"The content that Crying Nut posted is nothing more than their reason for the lawsuit and its details as well as their response," read the court decision, according to the website allkpop.

"It is difficult to see this is as false accusations and aims to defame CNBLUE."

Crying Nut's lawsuit alleges that CNBLUE had performed their song in June of 2010 on the Mnet program "M! Countdown," and passed it off as their own.

CNBLUE reportedly just added new vocals to the music from the Crying Nut original.

The performance of "Deadly Offside," which was the Team Korea theme for the 2002 World Cup, was recorded and released on DVD in Japan without crediting Crying Nut for the song, further inflaming the situation.

Back in February, a FNC Spokesperson defended CNBLUE, claiming the entire debacle was the fault of the "M! Countdown" production staff.

"The production team of 'M Countdown' asked CNBLUE to sing 'Deadly Offside.' The production team had stated that they would provide the background music for the song," the rep explained.

"They wanted CNBLUE to sing it because the 2010 South African World Cup was going on. At the time CNBLUE was a rookie group and they could not say no...of course we thought the music source was just background music and CNBLUE performed for 'M Countdown.'"

The label spokesperson added that the band had no control over the fact their performance of "Deadly Offside" was released on DVD.

"The DVD in question was released by a broadcasting company that had the rights to the performance," the rep said.

"The DVD itself was created without any authorization from CNBLUE. We are also victims in this situation."

The label also issued an official apology on their website.

"It was our fault for putting up the singers on stage in such a frantic live stage without checking if the background music was being used legally or not," the FNC Entertainment apology read.

"We are also think that it is a shame that DVDs were sold of the performance and we weren't able to proactively remedy that situation. Instead of the CNBLUE members, we apologize to Crying Nut."

The apology apparently wasn't enough for the composers of "Deadly Offside."

"Despite the apology it is very difficult to erase a feeling of bitterness," a representative for Crying Nut wrote in an official response.

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