Peppa Pig takes down YouTube rival in blockbuster copyright fight

A UK High Court has ordered the removal of all videos featuring the popular children's character Wolfoo from online platforms, including YouTube, after finding the series illegally copied audio from Peppa Pig.

The ruling marks a significant victory for entertainment giant Hasbro and Peppa Pig creator Astley Baker Davies Ltd, which launched copyright proceedings against Vietnamese animation company SConnect in 2022.

Wolfoo, an animated series about a young wolf and his family, has attracted hundreds of millions of views online. However, the court found its English-language videos repeatedly used short audio clips from Peppa Pig, including recognisable sounds and expressions such as "hooray!".

Court finds copying was "prolific"

Mr Justice Smith ruled that the copying had been "prolific" and "long-standing", ordering that "all videos featuring Wolfoo" be removed from online platforms.

Hasbro and Astley Baker Davies originally argued that Wolfoo's appearance and artwork too closely resembled Peppa Pig, but ultimately focused their legal case on the audio, believing it would be more straightforward to prove direct copying.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Smith found the evidence overwhelming.

"The evidence of 'copying of the audio clips' is compelling," he said.

"That copying was extensive, seemingly endemic at least so far as the English language Wolfoo videos are concerned."

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Third-party defence rejected

SConnect denied copyright infringement but acknowledged that some Wolfoo videos produced before mid-2020 contained Peppa Pig audio after an independent contractor allegedly used the clips without the company's knowledge.

The company said it had removed the infringing videos and that all productions created after mid-2020 used voices and sound effects developed in-house.

The court rejected those arguments.

Mr Justice Smith said the fact the audio had been supplied by a third party was "irrelevant". He also found that while many infringing videos had been removed, others had simply been transferred to different channels, and that the company's claim all newer sounds were produced internally "can be disproved".

Children's audience at the centre of dispute

Court documents said Hasbro and Astley Baker Davies believed SConnect had attempted "to deceive the young Wolfoo viewership, most aged between two and five, into believing that Wolfoo is the same character as Peppa Pig" or was otherwise connected to the franchise.

The judge found clips from Peppa Pig in every one of the 92 English-language Wolfoo videos examined, as well as in around 75% of the foreign-language videos reviewed.