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The cartoon character Wolfoo owned by Sconnect Vietnam is continuously copyrighted on YouTube.

Entertainment One UK LTD (eOne) - the creator of Peppa Pig - no longer owns the character series from September 1, 2023 because its parent company Hasbro sold the business to Lionsgate.

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, 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.

eOne is no longer involved with Peppa Pig from September 1, 2023

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 was publicly announced on 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.

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: Infringement of copyright of “Audio Clips” (sound clip); Use of Peppa Pig images and titles; Infringement of wallpaper copyright; Infringement of trademark; 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 a source 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 works of the infringed audio and images as a basis for accusing Sconnect of infringing audio and images. However, up to now, eOne has not provided evidence to prove their ownership.

In addition, although eOne is no longer involved with the Peppa Pig cartoon character series as of September 1, 2023, during the months of September, October, November, December 2023 and January 2024, eOne will still copyright Sconnect's Wolfoo 2D videos on the YouTube platform.

In addition, eOne also sued for copyright of Sconnect's Wolfoo 3D video product, although 3D animation products are not the subject of the dispute in the UK court.

On November 10, 2023 and December 15, 2023, eOne continued to send letters to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to object to Sconnect's registration of the Wolfoo trademark in the EU, even though eOne no longer owned the Peppa Pig trademark from September 1, 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.