KanS, a Chinese cosmetic company, reportedly had used photos of former EXO member Luhan taken while the idol was still with the group for promotions.
The news has reached EXO's record label, SM Entertainment, who immediately responded to the issue. The agency expressed that they will take legal action against the cosmetic line's alleged act of copyright infringement, Daily Kpop News reports.
According to the report, the photo showing Luhan holding a heart was from EXO's Chinese CF while the photo printed on pillow covers was taken during the idol group's promotions.
After the news broke, the South Korean record label and management agency expressed their position on the matter through an official statement. Koreaboo published the statement from SM Entertainment which said, "We have collected information on the images used by the cosmetic company and have confirmed that the copyright does indeed belong us. We are discussing what legal action to take against those who use this image."
In the same report, Koreaboo noted that the rights to those photos of Luhan belong to SM. The website also pointed out that while it is a standard practice to check copyrights of photos before a company uses them in commercial purposes, the Chinese cosmetic company in question failed to do this.
Allkpop wrote that the use of artist-affiliated commercials, posters, photos, and more should have the approval of the rights owner, which in this case, is SM Entertainment.
Luhan was a former member of EXO-M, EXO's Chinese language subgroup. He left the group and the record label in October after filing a lawsuit aiming for nullification of his contract.
It was reported earlier that Luhan will enter court-mandated mediation with SM on December 16. Earlier this month, it was confirmed that he will start the first round of mediation on the same date at 2pm KST.
The Seoul Central District Court said, "The decisions that were made on November 25th regarding Luhan's nullification case, which was submitted on October 10th, will commence with mediation which will be conducted by Seoul's 6th legal sector."
The court-ordered mediation will be conducted aiming for an amicable agreement between the two parties.
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