"'Baby Shark Doo Doo Doo Doo' Not Plagiarized"... Copyright Lawsuit Concludes After 6 Years

[Financial News] The copyright-related damages lawsuit surrounding the popular children's song 'Shark Family' (Baby Shark) concluded in favor of The Pinkfong Company after 6 years. The existing legal principle that if a folk song is newly arranged and recognized as an original work, it cannot be protected under copyright law, was reaffirmed.
The Supreme Court's 1st Division (Presiding Judge No Tae-ak) on the 14th confirmed the lower court's ruling in favor of the defendant in the damages claim lawsuit filed by U.S. composer Johnny Only (real name Jonathan Robert Wright) against The Pinkfong Company.
Shark Family is a children's song created by The Pinkfong Company (then SmartStudy) in 2015. It gained popularity with its catchy chorus 'Baby Shark Doo Doo Doo Doo' and the accompanying dance video (Baby Shark Dance).
'Baby Shark' was first released on YouTube in November 2015 and as a music track in 2017. Starting with its entry into the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 main singles chart in 2019, it surpassed 200 million streams on the UK Official Chart by 2022. In 2023, it exceeded 1 billion cumulative streams on the global music platform Spotify. The 'Pinkfong Baby Shark Gymnastics' video, using this song as background music, also ranked first in worldwide YouTube views.
Johnny Only claimed that 'Shark Family' plagiarized his 2011 children's song 'Baby Shark' and filed a damages lawsuit in March 2019, seeking approximately 30 million won. Johnny Only's 'Baby Shark' is an arrangement of a North American folk song.
On the other hand, The Pinkfong Company argued that 'Shark Family' was based on a folk song and thus unrelated to Johnny Only's song. Folk songs do not have exclusive copyrights belonging to specific individuals or groups, so copyright infringement is not recognized.
When creating a song using a folk song, additional creativity must be added for it to be protected as a derivative work, but the court found it difficult to recognize Johnny Only's 'Baby Shark' as a new creative work.
The first trial court, considering the appraisal results from the Korea Copyright Commission, stated, "It is difficult to recognize that the plaintiff's song has newly added creative elements to the folk song."
It further pointed out, "Even if the plaintiff's song could be recognized as a new work distinct from the folk song with creativity sufficient to be protected as a derivative work under copyright law, it is insufficient to acknowledge that the defendant infringed on the plaintiff's copyright."
Although Johnny Only appealed the ruling, the second trial court dismissed the appeal. The second trial court stated, "It is difficult to see any similarity that the defendant used independently and specifically expressed parts of the plaintiff's song in creating their song."
The Supreme Court's judgment was the same. The Supreme Court explained, "For the plaintiff's song to be protected as a derivative work, it must be based on the original work, maintain substantial similarity with the original work, and have modifications or additions that add new creativity to the extent that it can be recognized as a new work by social norms."
It added, "If it cannot be seen as an original work, it cannot be protected under copyright law."

jisseo@fnnews.com Seo Min-ji Reporter