The owners of the popular British children's character Peppa Pig have won a copyright infringement case against the Vietnamese creators of a similar character named Wolfoo. SConnect, the company behind Wolfoo, was found to have illegally copied audio from Peppa Pig in a manner described as 'prolific' and 'long-standing' by a High Court judge in London.
Mr. Justice Smith ordered that all videos featuring Wolfoo must be removed by 4 p.m. BST on Monday. The legal action was initiated in 2022 by Hasbro and Astley Baker Davies Ltd., the creators of Peppa Pig, who accused SConnect of attempting to deceive young audiences, primarily aged between two and five, into believing Wolfoo was connected to Peppa Pig.
While the initial focus was on the similar art style, the plaintiffs shifted their case to audio usage, which proved to be more conclusive evidence. The judge found the evidence of audio copying to be 'compelling' and 'extensive,' particularly in English-language Wolfoo videos.
SConnect admitted to using Peppa Pig audio in some Wolfoo videos made before mid-2020, attributing it to an independent third-party contractor who allegedly acted without the company's knowledge. They claimed all infringing videos were removed and subsequent animations used only in-house created sounds. However, the judge dismissed these defenses, stating that the source of the sounds was 'irrelevant' and that infringing videos had merely been moved to different channels. He also noted that claims of exclusively in-house sound creation could be disproven.
Clips from Peppa Pig were found in all 92 English-language Wolfoo videos examined, and in approximately three-quarters of foreign-language videos. SConnect's attempt to limit the ruling to the sampled videos was rejected, with the judge stating the order would apply across 166 World Trade Organization states, including the UK, EU, and Vietnam.
Andrew Lee, a partner at law firm Brandsmiths representing Hasbro, called the judgment 'significant.' He explained that bringing the case in the UK allowed for a broader ruling, protecting the Peppa Pig brand globally rather than requiring individual legal actions in every country, given Wolfoo's extensive reach and scale.