Vietnamese animation studio Sconnect on Saturday sought help from local government agencies as Entertainment One UK Limited (eOne), the producer of animated series Peppa Pig, submitted a copyright strike against the 3D version of the former's cartoon featuring a character named Wolfoo, while the two are involved in a legal battle for the intellectual property rights over the 2D version of the cartoon.

Sconnect wrote to the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the National Competition Commission, the Vietnam Digital Communications Association, and the Vietnam Journalists Association, reporting the latest development of its legal battle with eOne.

In particular, eOne early this month submitted a copyright strike against the ‘Hurray’ sound with a duration of 0.1 second in the 3D version of Wolfoo.

It is worth noting that the 3D version is separate from the 2D version, which is implicated in the two sides’ lawsuits.

This is not the first time eOne has filed a copyright strike against Sconnect’s products that are not related to their lawsuits.

Late last year, eOne lodged a copyright claim against the Wolfoo Game app on App Store.

After Sconnect submitted documents proving its legal ownership of Wolfoo Game to App Store, the platform rejected eOne’s claim.

Peppa Pig, an animated series about a family of pigs, was introduced in 2008 and shown on television in the UK and some other European countries.

Wolfoo, released in 2018, is an animated series about a little wolf and his family and friends.

The legal battle for the intellectual property rights between Sconnect and eOne began last year when the latter filed lawsuits against the former in Russia, the UK, and Vietnam, saying Wolfoo was a remake of Peppa Pig.

Sconnect also sued the British company in the Hanoi People’s Court in August last year for unfair competition.

The court in Russia in July last year concluded that Sconnect did not commit any intellectual property infringement.

The courts in the UK and Vietnam have yet to deliver any verdict on Sconnect’s violations.

Notably, only 91 Wolfoo videos were involved in eOne’s lawsuit against Sconnect in the UK, the British firm used the lawsuit to report Wolfoo videos to YouTube, leading to the video platform’s removal of 3,500 Wolfoo videos, which had billions of views.

eOne’s act has caused losses of over US$10 million for Sconnect, a representative of the Vietnamese animation studio said.

It has also disrupted Sconnect’s business operations and hindered the latter’s application for an international trademark.

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