In a lawsuit for damages filed by an American composer claiming plagiarism of the popular children's song "Baby Shark," a domestic corporation won final victory on the 14th. "Baby Shark" is a children's song produced by The Pinkfong Company in 2015, which also achieved 10 billion views on YouTube in January 2022.
The Supreme Court's 1st Division (Chief Justice Noh Tae-ak) dismissed the appeal of American composer Johnny Only (real name Jonathan Robert Light) on this day, maintaining the second trial's ruling in favor of The Pinkfong Company in the damages lawsuit against The Pinkfong Company regarding the children's song "Baby Shark." It has been six years since Johnny Only filed the lawsuit in 2019.
Johnny Only claimed that he created "Baby Shark" based on a North American folk song in 2011 and filed a lawsuit in March 2019, asserting that "Baby Shark" plagiarized his work.
In response, The Pinkfong Company argued that "Baby Shark" is simply an arrangement of a traditional folk song and is unrelated to Johnny Only's work. They also contended that the traditional folk song "Baby Shark" is an anonymous piece and does not qualify for copyright infringement.
Conditions for recognizing copyright infringement include ▲the existence of original works and ▲substantial similarity in creative expression. 'Existence' means that the alleged infringer is aware of the prior work and directly or indirectly sees or hears it before creating their own work.
The first trial ruled in favor of The Pinkfong Company in July 2021, as both conditions were not recognized. The first trial court stated, "There is insufficient evidence to acknowledge that Johnny Only's song added new creative elements to the folk song, and even if the creativity were acknowledged to be sufficient for a new work, it is still inadequate to recognize that The Pinkfong Company infringed on Johnny Only's copyright."
Johnny Only appealed the first trial's decision, but the second trial also issued the same ruling in May 2023. The second trial court noted, "It is difficult to see any similarities that would warrant recognition that The Pinkfong Company utilized parts of Johnny Only's song that are expressed distinctly and specifically, and parts belonging to the genre and method of music are seen to be shared by both parties' songs as well as other songs belonging to this traditional folk song."
Johnny Only appealed the second trial, but the Supreme Court confirmed The Pinkfong Company's victory on this day, asserting that there were no issues with the second trial's judgment.