Copyright Infringement Verdict

We represented the Plaintiff, creators of CoComelon in a hard-fought copyright litigation brought against a competitor BabyBus, alleging that BabyBus’ show Super JoJo was an unlawful knockoff of Moonbug’s wildly successful children’s entertainment franchise, CoComelon. After a four-week jury trial before Judge Edward Chen in the Northern District of California that concluded on July 27, 2023, the jury returned its verdict finding that BabyBus willfully infringed dozens of Moonbug’s copyrights and violated Section 512(f) of the DMCA for making knowing and material misrepresentations in a DMCA counter notification to YouTube. Following the verdict, the Court entered a broad permanent injunction barring distribution of Super JoJo from all U.S.-based platforms. Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. v. BabyBus Co., Ltd., 2022 WL 580788 (N.D. Cal Feb. 25, 2022).

HIGHLIGHTS

• We obtained a dismissal with prejudice of all of Defendant’s counterclaims and certain of its defenses (including fair use and copyright misuse), with an award to Moonbug of over $160,000 in legal fees for our successful special motion to strike the counterclaims under California’s anti-SLAPP law.  See coverage of that win here. 

• We won partial summary judgment shortly before trial, with the court acknowledging the validity and enforceability of Moonbug’s asserted copyrights—including in the protectable character JJ—as well as finding that BabyBus had willfully infringed seven of Moonbug’s registrations, substantially streamlining the issues for trial. See that ruling here. 

• On the eve of trial, we successfully struck two of BabyBus’ remaining defenses—laches and unclean hands— with the Court holding that BabyBus’s concession of willful infringement barred its laches defense, and the conduct on which BabyBus relied for its unclean hands defense lacked a nexus to the merits of the case.

• In a key pre-trial ruling, the Court denied BabyBus’s attempt to exclude all evidence of the summary determination that BabyBus had willfully infringed 7 of Moonbug’s copyright registrations.

• After a 3.5 week trial and 2.5 days of deliberations, the jury concluded that BabyBus engaged in willful copyright infringement of 39 of  Moonbug’s registered copyrights and violated Section 512(f) of the DMCA, awarding Moonbug approximately $4.12 million in Moonbug’s damages (i.e., lost profits), $13.54 million in disgorged profits of BabyBus, $5.85 million in statutory damages, and $10,000 in damages resulting from BabyBus’s violation of section 512(f). The jury also answered “yes” to the final question posed on the verdict form: that Super JoJo’s main character JoJo is “virtually identical” to CoComelon’s main character, JJ. See the verdict form here.

• The case received substantial press coverage, some of which can be viewed here:

  • CoComelon Wins Bulk of Copyright Claims, $23.4 Million From Jury (bloomberglaw.com)

  • Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. Wins $23.4 Million In Copyright Case - Copyright - United States (mondaq.com)

  • CoComelon Wins $23.4M Jury Award In Copyright Case (law360.com)

  • Jury Awards Producers of YouTube's CoComelon $23M for Copyright Infringement (dailyjournal.com)

• The jury’s finding that BabyBus violated Section 512(f) of the DMCA by knowingly making material misrepresentations in a counter-notification to YouTube was the first time in the history of the DMCA that a Section 512(f) claim has made it to, and been determined by, a jury. 

• Following trial, the Court granted Moonbug’s motion for sanctions against BabyBus, finding that BabyBus had manipulated evidence in an attempt to support its failed independent development defense, awarding Moonbug its attorneys’ fees and costs, including expert fees, attributable to BabyBus’ misconduct. See that ruling here. 

• Also following trial, the Court granted Moonbug’s motion for attorneys’ fees and pre-judgment interest, ordering BabyBus to pay $6.7 million in legal fees and costs. See related press coverage here.