Tao wins contract violation lawsuit due to SM Entertainment’s lack of evidence

Chinese courts today dismissed SM Entertainment‘s lawsuit against Tao. SME claimed that Tao’s activities in China violated an exclusive contract with them, but the court dismissed those claims, saying that there was no legal evidence to support them.

The most important thing is that Tao’s lawyer basically just dropped a “keep his name out of your mouth and we can keep it the same” on SME. It might be the closest we’ll ever get to “BOFA DEEZ NUTZ” from legal speak on this site.

Anyway, I doubt this will actually be the end of the mess, but it sure seems like SME is fighting a pointless battle at this juncture. Like Tao’s lawyer mentioned, however, this is likely more about harrying and harassing Tao than it is about winning a lawsuit. To SME, it’s likely about trying to deter other potential defectors once they see the consequences, like they’ve done with JYJ. Of course, based on how Tao, Kris, and Luhan have been doing, I’m not sure that tactic is gonna quite work out this time.

Another reason to be excited is that we’re one step closer to Tao spilling the deets on SME.