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There were Jedward japes galore when merch dispute got to Ireland’s high court
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 6 November 2017
Jedward last week settled a legal battle with an Irish businessman who claimed that the pop duo and their parents had made a number of commitments to him regarding a possible joint venture merchandise business.
There had already been a day’s worth of proceedings in the Irish High Court before the settlement was reached. Patrick Noonan claimed that back in 2011 he had met with the parents of John and Edward Grimes to discuss launching various Jedward-branded items once their then current merch deal with Universal Music’s Bravado reached its conclusion.
Noonan argued that agreements had been made and, as result, he paid for various items like Jedward wristbands and jigsaws to be made, while reserving a boardgame concept he had been working on for his Jedward JV.
But said joint venture never really got off the ground, and Noonan said he’d lost 625,000 euros on the deal, including what he’d spent on the merch he had already manufactured and the lost opportunity over this boardgame. For their part John Grimes and Susanna Condron denied any formal business agreements had ever been made with Noonan.
Quite what Jedward themselves thought about the whole debacle isn’t clear, given they spent most of their time in court grinning for photos with their stern looking legal counsel and recording lip-syncing videos on Snapchat.
The latter behaviour, some have noted, sort of breaks protocol about how to behave in Ireland’s Four Court’s complex, which includes the High Court, and some rules about filming in the building too. Though a spokesperson for the court told the Irish Sun that, while such japes aren’t “something we’d encourage people to do”, because “they filmed themselves, and no one else, it’s not a serious matter as far as we’re concerned”.
Though, take note all annoying pop duos embroiled in merchandise-related court proceedings, the spokesperson added: “Had the boys taken any footage within the courtroom itself, or of someone else within the Four Courts, then they’d be in trouble”.
As for the formal proceedings, they came to a halt on day two once both parties told the judge hearing the case that a settlement had been reached overnight. Terms of the settlement are confidential.
