YouTube giant CoComelon awarded $6.7M in legal fees

A federal judge ordered the Chinese company Babybus Network to pay an additional $6.7 million in legal fees and costs to Moonbug Entertainment Ltd., the creator of the popular children's YouTube channel "CoComelon."

U.S. Senior District Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California issued the order on Aug. 6, awarding Moonbug $6,657,490 in attorney fees and costs. This comes on the heels of a $23 million jury verdict against Babybus for willful copyright infringement, delivered after a three-week trial in July 2023. Moonbug Entertainment Limited et al. v. Babybus (Fujian) Network Technology Co., Ltd, 3:21-CV-06536-EMC, (N.D. Ca., filed Aug. 24, 2021)

"We are very gratified by this outcome, which comes after a clean sweep at trial last summer, and after winning virtually all post-trial motions," Ryan Tyz of the TYZ Law Group PC, lead counsel for Moonbug, said Wednesday. "I am especially grateful to my colleagues who gave this case their all, as well as our client who trusted our small but mighty team to handle this very important case for them."  

In addition to the fee award, Chen granted Moonbug's motion for pre-judgment interest, with the exact amount to be calculated based on current rates. The court denied Moonbug's request for assignment of Babybus's rights to third-party payments, deeming it premature as Babybus has filed an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In May, Chen denied Babybus' bid for a new trial. The original lawsuit, filed in August 2021, accused Babybus of plagiarizing CoComelon's proprietary material in their "Super JoJo" series, including character designs, episode structures, and overall aesthetics. Babybus' attorneys from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan could not be reached for comment.