Children’s song ‘Shark family’ lawsuit

World popular nursery rhyme ‘Shark Family’

Shake `` Shark Family, '' which appeared on YouTube in January 2018, is a two-minute song written by children's content creator, SmartStudy that adds lyrics and dance to a nursery rhyme in North America. The shark family, which became popular in Korea with its strong addictiveness, has spread worldwide and been translated into more than 10 languages, exceeding 4 billion views on YouTube, and getting into the Billboard chart.

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 Johnny Only filed Copyright Infringement

In 2019, American songwriter Johnny Onley filed a lawsuit against copyright infringement against SmartStudy. The reason is that ‘Shark Family’ is very similar to the ‘Baby Shark’, which he released in 2011. Johnny Only sued for the first time in 2018, but was dropped because of lack of preparation.

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Johnny Only vs SmartStudy

Johnny Only claimed that SmartStudy plagiarized the ‘Baby Shark’ that he re-made. Although the ‘Shark Family’ of SmartStudy has variations in intro and the latter half, but rhythm, and chord are very similar to Johnny Only's ‘Baby Shark’. The SmartStudy insisted that things are common because the two songs are arranged from the same song, but except for the elements shared between the two songs and the original song, there is no real similarity. They argued that unlike Johnny's offbeat rhythm which is familiar in North America, the SmartStudy used honest beats, so that the plagiarism could not be proven.

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 What is a derivative work?

In fact, the two songs are inspired by the North American oral rhythm "Baby Shark." The nursery rhyme is not copyrighted and free from copyright restrictions. However, the contents completed by applying their own melody to their oral rhymes and applying their own arrangements are recognized as secondary works. If it is recognized as a secondary work, it is possible that it would be protected by copyright law.

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 What are the consequences for litigation between derivative works?

On the 21st, the court requested the file to both parties to inform the start of the trial. The lawsuit is likely to be a significant precedent for the derivative work. Anyone can create a secondary creation while the original author is unclear, but the criteria for judging the boundary and recognition for the secondary creation were ambiguous. Let’s see what the court’s decision will be.