eOne continues to 'hit' Wolfoo on YouTube after transfer deal

Entertainment One UK LTD (referred to as eOne or EO) - the creator of Peppa Pig - no longer owns the character set from September 1, 2023 because eOne's parent company Hasbro sold the business to Lionsgate, but Hasbro did not transfer Peppa Pig and many other famous character sets.

Peppa Pig is currently the subject of a copyright dispute with Wolfoo (owned by Sconnect Vietnam). The two parties have been suing each other in courts in Russia, the UK and Vietnam. The lawsuit in the Russian Federation has ended and the Moscow court did not find Sconnect guilty of copyright infringement. Currently, the courts in the UK and Vietnam are handling the lawsuit.

However, the lawsuit in the courts in the UK and Vietnam will have new developments after eOne no longer owns Peppa Pig. According to Sconnect, after losing ownership of Peppa Pig, eOne continues to copyright Wolfoo on YouTube, accusing Wolfoo of infringing on eOne's copyright on Peppa Pig. Sconnect has quickly requested clarification of this information to protect its legal rights in the courts.

Wolfoo continues to be hit with copyright strikes on YouTube even though eOne is no longer the company that owns the Peppa Pig cartoon.

eOne no longer holds the copyright to Peppa Pig

According to sources from Variety.com, Nasdaq.com, Hasbro Corporation (eOne's parent company) announced on December 27, 2023 that the Corporation has completed the sale of its film and television business (specifically eOne) to Lionsgate for $375 million, along with other agreements on price adjustments and some financing loans.

Lionsgate previously reached a $500 million deal to acquire eOne's film and television production assets from Hasbro in August 2023. In August 2019, Hasbro acquired eOne in a $3.8 billion deal.

The source also said that popular IPs not included in the sale to Lionsgate include “Peppa Pig,” “Transformers,” “Dungeons & Dragons,” “Magic: The Gathering,” “My Little Pony,” “Power Rangers,” “Play-Doh,” and “Clue.” With this transfer agreement, the Peppa Pig animated characters will not be owned by eOne when the acquisition is completed, but the character sets including Peppa Pig will be owned by Haspro.

In early December 2023, Lionsgate cut 10% of eOne's staff in preparation for the merger. Previously in June 2023, Hasbro cut 20% of eOne's staff, also as part of the plan to sell to Lionsgate.

The transfer agreement between Hasbo and Lionsgate is publicly announced on https://www.sec.gov/. According to eOne's Financial Report and the change of ownership of the Peppa Pig trademark at the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), Hasbro has transferred eOne and it will be effective from September 1, 2023. That means that from September 1, 2023, eOne will no longer be the owner of the Peppa Pig cartoon character set and other related trademarks.

For over 2 years, eOne has been continuously copyrighting Wolfoo videos, leading YouTube to delete 3,500 Wolfoo videos without reason. — For over 2 years, eOne has been continuously copyrighting Wolfoo videos , leading YouTube to delete 3,500 Wolfoo videos without reason.

eOne continues to hit Wolfoo on YouTube

eOne and Sconnect have been pursuing a copyright dispute lawsuit at the Business and Property Court of England and Wales since early 2022. Accordingly, on January 24, 2022, eOne filed a lawsuit accusing Sconnect of the following acts, in 91 Wolfoo cartoon videos, including: (1) Copyright infringement of “Audio Clips” (sound clip); (2) Use of Peppa Pig images and titles; (3) Copyright infringement of Wallpaper; (4) Trademark infringement (5) Unfair competition.

The UK Court is currently handling the case and there has been no ruling concluding that Wolfoo has violated copyright. However, for over 2 years eOne has continuously copyrighted Wolfoo videos, leading to YouTube deleting 3,500 Wolfoo videos without reason. More than 30 Wolfoo channels have had their upload rights blocked for a long time, causing Sconnect to suffer an estimated loss of more than 10 million USD.

After Sconnect exercised its right to administrative complaints to Vietnamese state agencies and sued eOne in the Hanoi People's Court in two lawsuits, YouTube unlocked the Wolfoo channels. However, more than 3,500 Wolfoo videos that YouTube had previously deleted (at eOne's request) could not be restored.

According to sources from Sconnect, during the process of participating in resolving the global dispute with eOne, although Sconnect has repeatedly requested to provide evidence to prove that eOne is the owner of the Peppa Pig cartoon character set, providing the original work of the infringed audio/image as a basis for accusing Sconnect's audio/image of infringement. However, up to now, eOne has not provided evidence to prove their ownership.

In addition, although eOne is no longer involved in the Peppa Pig cartoon character series since September 1, 2023, in September, October, November and December 2023 and January 2024, eOne still abused the copyright of Sconnect's Wolfoo 2D videos on the YouTube platform. In addition, eOne also abused the copyright of Sconnect's Wolfoo 3D video products, although the 3D animation products were not the subject of the dispute in the UK Court.

On 10 November 2023 and 15 December 2023, eOne continued to send letters of opposition to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to oppose Sconnect's registration of the Wolfoo trademark in the EU, even though eOne no longer owned the Peppa Pig trademark from 01 September 2023.

“With the above actions, eOne’s infringement of Wolfoo copyright is very clear. We have compiled documents and evidence on this issue to submit to the Court, the National Competition Commission and Vietnamese state agencies to clarify and request handling of eOne’s abusive and unfair competition behaviors,” said a representative of Sconnect Vietnam.

Tra Khanh

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