SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Supreme Court docket rejected a 30 million gained ($21,600) harm declare Thursday by an American composer who accused a South Korean children content material firm of plagiarizing his model of “ Baby Shark,” ending a six-year authorized battle over the globally common tune identified for its catchy “ doo doo doo doo doo doo ” hook.
The highest courtroom upheld decrease courtroom rulings relationship again to 2021 and 2023 that discovered no adequate grounds to conclude Pinkfong infringed on Jonathan Wright’s copyright. Wright, also referred to as Johnny Solely, had recorded his model in 2011, 4 years earlier than Pinkfong’s, however each have been based mostly on a conventional melody common for years at youngsters’s summer season camps in the USA.
The courts dominated that Wright’s model didn’t differ sufficient from the unique melody to qualify as an unique artistic work eligible for copyright safety, and that Pinkfong’s music had clear variations from Wright’s.
The Supreme Court docket stated its ruling reaffirms the established authorized precept on current folks tunes as spinoff work.
“The Supreme Court accepts the lower court’s finding that the plaintiff’s song did not involve substantial modifications to the folk tune related to the case to the extent that it could be regarded, by common social standards, as a separate work,” it stated in an announcement.
Wright’s South Korean lawyer and Pinkfong didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark” turned a worldwide phenomenon after it was launched on YouTube in 2015, with the unique “Baby Shark Dance” video now exceeding 16 billion views and peaking at No. 32 on the Billboard Sizzling 100.
Child Shark stays an important product for Pinkfong, which earned 45.1 billion gained ($32.6 million) in income within the first half of 2025, in response to its regulatory submitting. The corporate has turned the five-member shark household — Child Shark, Mama Shark, Papa Shark, Grandma Shark, and Grandpa Shark — into TV and Netflix reveals, motion pictures, smartphone apps and globally-touring musicals.
