Baby Shark Song Not Plagiarised

South Korea's Supreme Court have rejected a lawsuit from a US children's songwriter who alleged that the producers of the inescapably catchy children's song "Baby Shark" plagiarised his work, ending a six-year-long legal battle. 

The court upheld two lower court verdicts that favored Pinkfong, the South Korean company behind the tune with the "doo doo doo doo doo doo" refrain that has been streamed billions of times. 

Jonathan Wright, known as Johnny Only, recorded a version of the tune in 2011 based on a children's folk song. Pinkfong's version was released in 2016. 

Wright said he owned the copyright to the interpretation, but Pinkfong argued that their version was an arrangement of the same folk song, which is in the public domain. 

The court ruled Thursday that Wright's version "had not reached a level of substantial alteration" from the original folk song for it to be considered a separate work, which means it is not protected as a separate piece of work under copyright law. 

Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" went wildly viral after it was released on YouTube, in a clip that included hand gestures for children to dance along with. 

It became the most-viewed YouTube video of all time in November 2020, at the height of the pandemic, after raking up seven billion views. Just over a year later, it became the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views.

After Pinkfong’s renditions captured the world’s attention, sparking social media moments like the #BabySharkChallenge and seeing the song hit No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Wright filed his plagiarism claim, seeking 30 million won ($21,600) in compensation. 

In fact, there are also international adaptations of Baby Shark before Pinkfong's interpretation, including the French "Bebe Requin" and the German "Kleiner Hai" (Little Shark), which became a viral hit in Europe in 2007. But none of these have reached the phenomenal success of Pinkfong's adaptation. 

Yesterday, the new Premier League season kicked off with the English champions triumphing 4-2 over AFC Bournemouth. 

Liverpool's £70m signing from Eintracht Frankfurt, Hugo Ekitike broke the latter's stubborn resistance with a composed finish in the 37th minute before turning provider to set up Cody Gakpo for a second in the 49th minute. The Reds looked on course for a comfortable victory but the Cherries had other ideas, their winger striking back on two occasions in the 64th and 76th minutes to draw Bournemouth level. 

Federico Chiesa was brought in and it well and truly paid off – the Italian volleying in with 88 minutes on the clock to secure an unlikely late win. That wasn’t to be it, either, with Mohamed Salah adding a fourth in stoppage time, scoring for the eighth time in nine opening-day fixtures.