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Final ruling favoring The Givers resolves legal battle over Fifty Fifty's 'Cupid'

Published: 06 Apr. 2026, 15:34

From left, girl group Fifty Fifty's current and past members Saena, Sio, Keena and Aran perform ″Cupid″ (2023) at a media conference at Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on April 13, 2023. [NEWS1]

A copyright dispute over girl group Fifty Fifty’s global hit song “Cupid” (2023) ended Monday as third-party production company The Givers secured a final legal victory after the group’s agency Attrakt dropped its appeal.

Released in 2023, “Cupid,” Fifty Fifty’s debut track, gained traction on social media and peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, a significant feat for a debuting K-pop group.

The song was originally written by Swedish composers. The Givers later acquired the song’s commercial rights from them and registered ownership under its name with the Korea Music Copyright Association in March 2023.

Attrakt challenged the registration, arguing that its service contract with The Givers included securing the copyright of the song and that the Swedish composers understood Attrakt to be the actual buyer in the deal.

Both lower courts sided with The Givers. They found that the copyright transfer agreement clearly named The Givers as the contracting party and that it carried out all substantive actions, including signing the contract and covering the costs.

The Givers, led by producer Ahn Sung-il, said Monday that the ruling was finalized after Attrakt dropped its final appeal, leaving the lower court rulings in place.

"The final ruling confirms that our position, which we have consistently supported with verifiable facts and legal principles despite one-sided claims and distorted allegations, has been clearly upheld by the court," a company official said.

"Now that the rights between the contracting parties have been definitively established, we hope this case will serve as a clear benchmark for the industry."

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]