The long-running plagiarism lawsuit over Baby Shark has come to a close after six years, with South Korea's Pinkfong Company securing a final victory against an American composer.

The Supreme Court's First Division upheld the lower court ruling that dismissed Jonathan Robert Wright's claim for damages against Pinkfong. Wright had alleged that Baby Shark, originally created by Pinkfong (then SmartStudy) in 2015, copied his 2011 composition Baby Shark, seeking approximately 30 million KRW in compensation.

Baby Shark gained global fame with its catchy "doo-doo-doo-doo-doo" melody. The English version, Baby Shark Dance, released in June 2016, became a worldwide sensation, topping YouTube views in November 2020 and reaching 10 billion views by January 2022—making it the first video to achieve this milestone on the platform.

Pinkfong argued that the song was an original arrangement of a traditional children's folk song and unrelated to Wright's work. Since folk songs are not subject to exclusive copyright, no infringement was recognized.

The first-instance court ruled that Wright's song did not sufficiently add creative elements to the folk tune and that the two songs lacked substantial similarity. The Korean Copyright Commission's analysis supported this, noting that Baby Shark did not introduce new accompaniment beyond conventional folk melodies, and that the use of electric guitar and synthesizer pad sounds merely added instrumentation rather than originality.

The appellate court dismissed Wright's appeal in 2023 for the same reasons, ruling that his work did not qualify as a derivative work protected under copyright law. The Supreme Court affirmed this decision, stating that "minor modifications to an original work do not make it eligible for copyright protection if the work is not independently original."