A six-year legal battle over the internationally popular song known for its catchy “doo doo doo doo doo” hook came to an end Thursday when the Supreme Court of South Korea rejected a 30 million won ($21,600) damage claim from an American composer who claimed that a South Korean kids content company had plagiarized his version of Baby Shark.
The highest court maintained lower court decisions from 2021 and 2023 that concluded there were insufficient grounds to find that Pinkfong had violated Jonathan Wright’s copyright.
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Both were based on a traditional melody that had been popular for years at American children’s summer camps. Wright, also known as Johnny Only, published his version of the song in 2011, four years before Pinkfong’s.
The judges decided that Pinkfong’s song was obviously different from Wright’s, and Wright’s version did not deviate from the original melody enough to be considered an original creative work entitled to copyright protection.
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According to the Supreme Court, this decision upholds the long-standing legal precept that existing folk tunes are derivative works.
The Supreme Court stated in a statement that it agrees with the lower court’s conclusion that the plaintiff’s song did not significantly alter the case’s folk melody to the point where it could be considered a stand-alone work under conventional social criteria.
The decision verified that Pinkfong’s rendition of Baby Shark was based on a classic sing-along chant that was in the public domain, the band said in a statement to The Associated Press. According to the firm, it transformed the song into the current pop culture phenomenon by including a lively rhythm and engaging melody.
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Wright’s South Korean lawyer, Chong Kyong-sok, described the verdict as somewhat disappointing but stated that he had not yet gotten the complete court ruling.
In any case, he remarked, the issue is now resolved. Since our work was published first, we can take care of the licensing on our end. After that, I suppose we all go our separate ways.
After being posted to YouTube in 2015, Pinkfong’s Baby Shark became a worldwide sensation. The original Baby Shark Dance video has since received over 16 billion views and peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.
According to its regulatory filing, Pinkfong made 45.1 billion won ($32.6 million) in revenue in the first half of 2025, and Baby Shark is still a key product. The firm has created TV and Netflix series, films, smartphone games, and international touring musicals featuring the five members of the shark family: Baby Shark, Mama Shark, Papa Shark, Grandma Shark, and Grandpa Shark.
