Hasbro wins copyright case; all Wolfoo videos ordered removed
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- Hasbro, which owns Peppa Pig, secured a London High Court ruling against Vietnam-based SConnect, with the judge finding that Wolfoo videos had illegally used audio from Peppa Pig including the famous "Hooray!" exclamation.
- All Wolfoo videos were ordered removed from online platforms including YouTube by 4pm BST Monday, with the judge describing the copying as "prolific" and "longstanding" across the sampled 92 English-language videos.
- SConnect's defense that pre-mid-2020 audio came from an independent third-party contractor was called "irrelevant" by the judge, who also ruled the company's claim that later videos used in-house sounds can be "disproved."
- Peppa Pig sound clips were found in 100% of the 92 English-language Wolfoo videos examined and in 75% of foreign-language videos, per the ruling.
- The original 2022 action by Hasbro and Peppa Pig creator studio Astley Baker Davies accused SConnect of trying to deceive Wolfoo's young viewers — aged two to five — into believing Wolfoo was the same character as Peppa Pig, with claims covering both audio and visual similarity.
- SConnect argued the scope was "too broad," but the removal order extends across the UK, EU, and all 166 WTO member states including the US and Vietnam.
Why it matters: SConnect loses not just the UK market but a global mandate covering 166 WTO jurisdictions for its marquee animated series, which has attracted hundreds of millions of views. The judge's explicit rejection of the third-party contractor and in-house-sound defenses signals that blame-shifting won't shield animation studios from infringement findings, and the original 2022 claim makes clear this was framed as deliberately targeting children as young as two.
