One major detail of Red Velvet Wendy‘s new company announcement has sparked huge reactions.
After leaving SM Entertainment, it was revealed on April 25 that Wendy had joined ASND.
Netizens Shocked At Red Velvet Wendy’s Unexpected Contract With A Start-Up Label
ASND shared photos of Wendy, sparking major excitement for the next step in her career.
[#WENDY]
achive something never done before♥#웬디#ASND #어센드 pic.twitter.com/B7rygONAA7— ASND (@ASNDLABEL) April 25, 2025
Yet, one detail sparked huge reactions: the use of “Wendy.” SM Entertainment’s trademark of Wendy’s name has been a huge talking point in the past.
For those who don’t know what this means, SM is now the owner of Wendy’s KR/EN name in terms of copyright in certain trades like music/merch so they essentially “own” Wendy’s entire brand as a celebrity.
This leads to even greater power imbalance between Wendy and SM. https://t.co/1PaAjBokRL
— Mix | Wendy’s Publicist (@_todayiswendy) August 31, 2023
It meant that netizens were relieved to see Wendy could use her name, especially as aside from being her stage name, it is the English name she has used for a long time, even before debuting.
#WENDY THEY GOT THE TRADEMARK FOR HER NAME 😭😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/8W0AnMLF9J
— WENDY NEW ERA (@solosangerr) April 25, 2025
shes still using wendy as the stage name… i guess wendy’s lawyers fought hard for it 🫂
— swetha (@wenshyun) April 25, 2025
oh? it seems wendy got to keep the name wendy without any copyright issues? https://t.co/kqVwoPuFV6
— reina☔️ (@AWHlTENIGHT) April 25, 2025
I don’t think we need to worry about her name because ASND clearly uses 웬디/Wendy! 🩵 https://t.co/fY9qeqRXkf
— @shonloist 🩵 (@shonloist) April 25, 2025
In particular, some fans pointed out that it could be with the help of ASND as fellow labelmates fromis_9 also managed to keep their name after accusations that HYBE was blocking the members from using the name.
bruh asnd’s ceo must be rich as fuck if he can afford having fromis_9 AND wendy with a company that came literally out of nowhere https://t.co/Gf4VPPL60a
— 𔒌 (@mybwis) April 25, 2025
i didn’t know fromis_9 is no longer with pledis and only 5 people remained and signed with asnd. that’s all news to me, they even fought to get the trademark rights for their name and got it, thats.. 🤯 does that mean they also did the same with wendy, cause she’s still using it?
— Hannah 🩵🩷 | 🌏☀️ (@wenreneana) April 25, 2025
I’m surprised she still went with Wendy as a stage name? Last time I checked it is still trademarked by SM. Or is this one of the factors why she signed with ASND bc they were able to get Fromis_9’s trademark from their previous company?
— kairi. ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ (@wannmoongi) April 25, 2025
Netizens are excited for the future.