NewJeans Members and HYBE Face Lawsuit Claiming ‘ETA’ Stole Instrumentals From Earlier Track

A new lawsuit alleges the hit 2023 NewJeans song “ETA” stole multiple elements from an instrumental dance track released nearly two decades earlier.

The Tuesday (July 7) legal complaint, first obtained and reported by Billboard, levels copyright infringement claims against NewJeans members Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Hyein and Danielle, as well as their label ADOR and parent company HYBE. The lawsuit also names various writers, producers and companies involved in the creation and distribution of “ETA,” which was part of NewJeans’ chart-topping EP Get Up and hit No. 4 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Songs chart in August 2023.

A company called All Surface Publishing is claiming that “ETA” lifts instrumentals from “Samir’s Theme,” a 2005 dance track by the producer DJ Debonair Samir. Specifically, the lawsuit says both songs feature the same syncopated melodic horns, bass drums and rhythmic structures.

“Defendants, and each of them, included a combination of elements in ‘ETA’s’ musical composition (and sound recording embodying that composition) that is strikingly and/or substantially similar, and indeed virtually identical, to an original combination of elements from ‘Samir’s Theme’ without a license from or compensation to All Surface,” reads the complaint.

Multiple music critics pointed out the similarities between the two songs when NewJeans released Get Up in 2023. Pitchfork wrote that “ETA” “takes horns from the Baltimore club classic ‘Samir’s Theme,’” and Paste said the song features “a blaring horn line lifted from the quintessential 2000s Baltimore club track ‘Samir’s Theme.’”

All Surface says it sent a cease-and-desist letter to the various defendants last month, but no resolution was reached. The publisher is now seeking unspecified financial damages, including a portion of the “significant revenue and profits” generated by “ETA.”

Reps for HYBE and ADOR did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.

This is not the first time All Surface has brought copyright infringement litigation over “Samir’s Theme.” In 2024, the publisher sued Pitbull’s label, Mr. 305 Inc., for allegedly copying the track on his 2021 dance hit “I Feel Good.” That case ended in a settlement last year.

NewJeans, meanwhile, was hit with a different copyright lawsuit two months ago claiming its 2024 song “How Sweet” used elements from a songwriting demo without compensation. ADOR denied those claims in a statement to Billboard, saying “no form of copying or infringement took place.”

The group and its label home have been embroiled in an internal legal battle of their own over the last several years. In 2024, all five original members attempted to sever ties with ADOR and go independent under the new moniker NJZ following the controversial firing of CEO Min Hee-jin. This led to a lawsuit, and ADOR ultimately prevailed when a South Korean court ruled in October that the women must remain under an exclusive contract until 2029.

In the wake of that ruling, Hanni, Haerin and Hyein all decided to return to ADOR and resume working with the label. Minji is still deciding whether to do the same. Danielle will not be part of NewJeans’ future; she was formally dropped from the group in December and is now facing further legal action from ADOR over her role in the attempted breakaway.