'Baby Shark' Copyright Dispute Moves to Second Trial... Composer Appeals

Pinkfong Baby Shark (Sang-eo Gajok) Musical Poster.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The copyright dispute surrounding the popular children's song 'Sang-eo Gajok' (Baby Shark) is once again being contested in court.

Law firm Riu, representing American children's song composer Johnny Only (real name Jonathan Robert Wright), who composed 'Baby Shark,' announced, "An appeal was filed on this day at the Seoul Central District Court against the plaintiff's loss ruling issued on the 23rd of last month."

Baby Shark is a children's song released in 2015 by the domestic education startup SmartStudy through its early childhood education content Pinkfong.

Due to its highly catchy chorus, it gained immense popularity, even reaching the US Billboard Hot 100 main singles chart, and the dance video accompanying the song (Baby Shark Dance) currently holds the record for the most views on YouTube with over 9 billion views.

Johnny Only filed a damages lawsuit in a domestic court against SmartStudy in March 2019, claiming 30.1 million KRW plus delayed damages from June 29, 2018, as part of the damages he suffered due to copyright infringement.

The reason was that the Baby Shark song plagiarized 'Baby Shark,' a single album he arranged from a North American traditional camp song and released on iTunes in 2011.

SmartStudy countered that since they produced Sang-eo Gajok by arranging a North American traditional folk song, it was unrelated to Johnny Only's work.

After a trial lasting two years and four months, Judge Lee Jung-kwon of Civil Division 208 at the Seoul Central District Court ruled against the plaintiff on the 23rd of last month.

The court, based on the appraisal results from the Korea Copyright Commission, judged that the song created by Johnny Only did not demonstrate new creativity distinct from the original traditional folk song and therefore could not be considered a secondary work.

Law firm Riu stated regarding the grounds for appeal, "Upon reviewing the first trial judgment, most of the judgment cited the appraisal results of the Korea Copyright Commission, but parts of the commission's appraisal report were not properly cited in the judgment."

They added, "The Korea Copyright Commission's appraisal report acknowledged a slight degree of creativity in the plaintiff's 'Baby Shark' song."

Furthermore, Riu said, "The defendant never disclosed that Baby Shark was a secondary work based on a traditional folk song and vaguely claimed it was produced after about 1,000 modifications. It is quite understandable that various versions, including the plaintiff's song, were used during these modifications, so judging that it was different from the plaintiff's song is very difficult to comprehend."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.