More Details of G.E.M.’s Lawsuit with Hummingbird Music Revealed
More details of G.E.M.’s (鄧紫棋) lawsuit with her estranged management agency Hummingbird Music (蜂鳥音樂) has been revealed.
In early March, G.E.M. harshly ended ties with Hummingbird Music on reasons of mistreatment and contract violation. Hummingbird reacted by suing the singer on March 28, seeking validation for her exclusive contracts. According to documents submitted to court, G.E.M.’s exclusive contracts had been renewed two times, and that it would not officially end until 2022. Should G.E.M. insist on her departure, she would have to pay up to HK$120 million for damages.
G.E.M. countersued last Thursday. The defendants included Hummingbird Music and the three exclusive contracts; former manager Tan Cheung (張丹); former producer Gernard Groinig (also known as Lupo); and Lee Yui (李蕊), an employee of Hummingbird. According to the plaintiff (G.E.M.), after the first contract renewal in September 2011, she was pressured by the defendants to renew the contract again for another five years in March 2014. Therefore, the renewed contract period should end in March 2019, and not what March 2022 like what the defendants are claiming.
The plaintiff added that throughout the contract period, the defendants had used her to cover up unlawful activities which damaged her reputation, and even transferred her income to a third person without her knowledge. During the Queen of Hearts world tour from 2017 to 2018, the plaintiff claimed that the defendants had misguided her to pay up HK$4.8 million out of her own pocket to invest on the concert tour. The plaintiff was never compensated for this fee. The defendants had registered the plaintiff’s international stage name G.E.M. and her Chinese stage name 鄧紫棋 as a trademark without her knowledge, and also changed the password to her YouTube channel and blog, also without her knowledge.
The plaintiff is now seeking the court to terminate her exclusive contracts with the defendants, and is demanding the defendants to return her rights for her music licenses, trademarks, online blog, and YouTube channel. The plaintiff is also seeking monetary compensation.
Tan Cheung has denied G.E.M.’s claims.
Source: Yahoo
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Honestly hope GEM wins this one.
Everyone knew Tan is a jerk and used her to make big bucks. I am a bit surprised that Lupo is in on this too. Without GEM these two guys would not be making nearly as much, and dwindle away in HK’s music industry. What would they do with her name? Sell products?
@bubbles23 Hope she wins too against these slavery dirtbag corporations.
If she renewed the contract in 2014 for 5 years it should end 2019. Its not mobile phone credit, they cant use her for the remainder 3 years and top up for 5 more years.
Well, hope she wins. It’s pretty obvious that this Hummingbird production is trying to destroy everything from her. It’s like, if they can’t have it, she can’t have it too. Pretty selfish Son of a B*t*h!
“also changed the password to her YouTube channel”
well i guess i won’t be watching her channel until this is over.
@mi520 I heard GEM opened up a new Youtube account. Lately she’s been filming, editing and posting vlogs of what’s been happening in her life. If you look up “GEM vlog” you should be able to find it.
Edit: I just went to look it up and the vlogs are posted under her regular account (GEM鄧紫棋). So I’m not sure anymore what the status is with the youtube account…
I’m going to side with the party with the more solid contractual agreement truth. Not going to just blindly believe GEM just because she is the star…
Verbal agreement is also a valid contract. However, G.E.M. would need to prove that such a contract was made. Having several witnesses, for example, will help establish that her contract existed. Likewise, physical evidence, such as e-mails, letters, receipts or even a thank-you card, can count as evidence for her oral contract.