Peppa Pig owners win copyright battle against 'impostor' Wolfoo

Peppa Pig owners win copyright battle against 'impostor' WolfooImage source, Hasbro/eOne/Astley Baker Davies/PA MediaImage caption, Audio clips of Peppa saying words and phrases like "hooray!" were used in Wolfoo videos, a judge ruledByIan YoungsCulture reporterPublishedJust nowA judge has ordered all videos featuring popular animated character Wolfoo to be removed from platforms including YouTube after ruling that the cartoon illegally copied audio from Peppa Pig.Wolfoo, a Vietnamese animation about a young wolf who lives with his family, has had hundreds of millions of views online.A High Court judge in London recently ruled in favour of entertainment giant Hasbro, which owns the rights to Peppa Pig, after it sued Wolfoo's makers SConnect for copyright infringement.Mr Justice Smith said the copying - in which Wolfoo videos used short audio clips of Peppa and her family saying words like "hooray!" - had been "prolific" and "long-standing".Image source, SConnect/YouTubeImage caption, One Wolfoo channel on YouTube has more than 13 million subscribersIn a ruling this week, the judge said "all videos featuring Wolfoo" must be taken down before 16:00 BST on Monday.Peppa Pig's former owner Entertainment One and creators Astley Baker Davies Ltd originally took court action in London in 2022.They claimed 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 connected to Peppa, the judge wrote.The companies initially complained about Wolfoo's appearance and artwork, but focused their legal case on the audio because they believed it would be easier to prove certain sound clips were directly copied.The evidence of "copying of the audio clips is compelling", the judge decided."That copying was extensive, seemingly endemic at least so far as the English language Wolfoo vide...