In a big win for Moonbug Entertainment, a California jury has awarded the company US$23.4 million in its copyright case against China’s Babybus for “blatantly copying” hundreds of CoComelon (pictured) videos.

Moonbug sued the Fuzhou-based company in 2021, alleging that it was infringing CoComelon’s copyright with its animated series Super JoJo. The case also claimed that hundreds of Babybus videos contained replicated CoComelon characters (including star JJ), songs and images.

“The verdict should serve as a warning that Moonbug will not stand by and allow infringers to free-ride off our success, including by making a carbon copy of our beloved JJ character,” said in-house lawyer Rob Miller.

CoComelon is one of the market’s biggest and most popular preschool IPs, with 163 million YouTube channel subscribers to date. Its hallmark animated series, created by Treasure Studios and owned by Moonbug, has been picked up by more than a dozen broadcasters around the world. Seeing this success, Netflix ordered three seasons of a spinoff called CoComelon Lane in 2021, as well as several compilations and specials.

Interestingly, the most popular kids video on YouTube in 2019 was “This is the Way + More Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs” from CoComelon, with “No-No Potty Song | Play Safe Song | Nursery Rhymes | Kids Songs | Toddler Songs” from Babybus sitting at number five on the same list.

YouTube shut down Babybus’s Super JoJo channel in 2021 after receiving multiple copyright infringement complaints. It had around 22 million subscribers at the time.

“This outcome finally vindicates in court the simple truth that Moonbug and Tyz Law Group have known the whole time: Artistic expression and content creators are always worth protecting, and the owners and creators of valuable intellectual property must stand firm against flagrant plagiarists,” reads a statement from TYZ Law, which represented Moonbug in the case.

On the left is CoComelon’s main character JJ and on the right is Babybus character Super JoJo.