Tyz Law Group Secures Ninth Circuit Victory for Firm Client Moonbug Entertainment Following CoComelon Copyright Trial Win

We are pleased to announce that on November 6, 2025, a three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in full Moonbug Entertainment’s victory in our long-running, hard fought copyright battle to protect its hit franchise CoComelon against Moonbug’s Chinese competitor BabyBus.  The order follows oral arguments in September where Seventh Circuit Court Judge David Hamilton, sitting on the panel by designation, commented that he had “never seen copying evidence quite as compelling as this record.”  Further commenting on the prospects of the appeal directly to BabyBus’ counsel, Ninth Circuit Court Judge Ryan D. Nelson noted that “it doesn’t look good for you, does it?”  

Judge Nelson’s foreshadowing proved true.  In the Ninth Circuit’s unanimous order, the panel affirmed that the jury was properly instructed on filtering of protected from unprotected copyright elements, the doctrines of scenes a faire and merger, and thick vs. thin copyright protection.  The panel also affirmed that the District Court did not err in its selection and arrangement instruction or improperly grant summary judgment to Moonbug on the copyrightability of the original character JJ.  Finally, the panel affirmed that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in formulating the verdict form by not requiring individual findings for each BabyBus video accused of infringement.  It was a complete victory on all points for Moonbug. 

We previously covered our win at trial in July 2023, where the jury found BabyBus liable for willfully infringing dozens of Moonbug’s registered copyrights in its massively popular CoComelon franchise, and awarding Moonbug nearly $23.5 million damages ($17.6 million in actual damages and disgorged profits, as well as $5.8 million in statutory damages electable in the alternative).  Since that judgment, we successfully led enforcement efforts to collect the full judgment amount through BabyBus’s U.S.-based platform partners, such as Google. 

This appellate victory before the Ninth Circuit is the capstone on a lengthy series of other wins for Moonbug, including:

• On February 25, 2022, we defeated BabyBus’ affirmative defenses and counterclaims on the basis that they ran afoul of California’s anti-SLAPP statute and then secured $160,000 in legal fees in the process. 

• March 7, 2023, we won partial summary judgment, confirming not only the validity of Moonbug’s registered copyrights, including the standalone character JJ, but also that BabyBus willfully infringed several of these copyrights.

• On October 30, 2023, the District Court for the Northern District of California granted our motion for a permanent injunction, requiring BabyBus to remove its infringing SuperJoJo show from all U.S. based platforms and to permanently cease further infringement of the infringed CoComelon Works within the United States, including distribution of any SuperJoJo content that includes the infringing “JoJo” character. 

• On October 31, 2023, the District Court granted Moonbug’s motion for sanctions (a motion we initially brought before trial and raised again post-trial, after the evidence at trial confirmed what we already knew: that BabyBus had doctored evidence to support its claim that it had developed “JoJo” without reference to JJ).  In the Order Granting Sanctions, Judge Chen concluded that BabyBus had made intentional misrepresentations to the Court in connection with its failed independent development defense, observing that BabyBus had offered “no coherent and credible explanation why the altered 2021 image . . . was used in the filings with this Court,” and awarded Moonbug monetary sanctions for its misrepresentations. 

• On May 15, 2024, the District Court denied BabyBus’ motions for a new trial and for judgment as a matter of law.  In a 53-page ruling, Judge Chen carefully walked through the overwhelming evidence of willful infringement and misrepresentation presented at trial and rejected all attacks on the trial win, leaving the verdict intact in its entirety.

• On August 7, 2024, the District Court granted our motion for attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest, with a total award of $6.7 million in legal fees.  Judge Chen emphasized Moonbug’s “nearly perfect success at trial” and BabyBus’s “unreasonable arguments throughout the case,” pointing among other things to BabyBus’s manufacturing of evidence to support its failed independent development defense.

Among other outlets, Law360 and the Daily Journal have covered the case extensively, including most recently the oral argument at the Ninth Circuit (Law360: ‘It Doesn’t Look Good’: CoComelon Foe Faces Uphill IP Fight).

Tyz Law Group’s Ryan Tyz notes that “working on – and winning – this case is a dream come true for any copyright lawyer.  I am thankful to Moonbug for entrusting us in this case, and I am so incredibly proud of and grateful to the team here at Tyz Law, whose passion and hard work have led us to this moment.”

Moonbug’s legal team was led by Rob Miller, Chief Legal Officer and Victoria Baxter, Deputy General Counsel – IP and Brand Protection.  Rob Miller commented on the win: “We welcome the Ninth Circuit’s decision to affirm the district court ruling in its entirety. The decision recognized the many unique and distinctive elements that define JJ and the CoComelon universe. Moonbug will always strongly defend the originality of our much-loved content and protect the trust families place in our brands.”

The case is Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. v. BabyBus Co., Ltd., No. 3:21-cv-06536-EMC (N.D. Cal. 2023), aff’d No. 24-3748 (9th Cir. Nov. 6, 2025).  Moonbug is represented by Tyz Law Group PC and Horvitz & Levy, LLP.  BabyBus is represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.