South Korea’s courts have rejected a plagiarism declare from a US composer who argued that Child Shark, the catchy kids’s tune which turned a world phenomenon, had copied his observe.
Nonetheless, South Korea’s high court docket dominated towards him on Thursday, noting that each tunes have been based mostly on a basic melody performed at kids’s summer season camps within the US.
Pinkfong, the South Korean kids’s content material agency which launched the earworm in 2015, welcomed the ruling, which upheld these made by the nation’s decrease courts. Wright had twice appealed towards judgments in 2021 and 2023.
The ruling concludes the New York-based composer’s six-year battle within the South Korean courts. His lawyer known as the end result “a little disappointing”, Reuters reported.
‘Popular culture icon’ value hundreds of thousands
Pinkfong stated the court docket’s judgment confirmed that Child Shark was based mostly on a “traditional singalong chant” within the public area. The agency stated it had boosted the tune and given it “a fresh twist to the chant by adding an upbeat rhythm and catchy melody, turning it into the pop culture icon it is today”.
The agency launched the observe in 2015 on YouTube with a Child Shark Dance video, which went viral. It has acquired greater than 16 billion views since then, making it some of the standard YouTube movies on report.
The track and its related merchandise – together with TV exhibits, motion pictures and touring musicals based mostly across the household of Child Shark characters stay a key earner for Pinkfong, which reported $32.6m (£24m) in income for the primary half of 2025.
Wright had launched a damages declare asking for compensation of $21,700.
