Wolf(oo) vs (Peppa) Pig: Who will win in a multi-jurisdictional IP battle?

Since August 2022, Vietnamese and foreign media reported that Sconnect (a local company producing creative content) had filed a lawsuit against EOne (UK) at the Hanoi People’s Court. The case related to various IP rights between two cartoon characters: Wolfoo (owned by Sconnect) and Peppa Pig (owned by EOne). EOne asked Youtube to take down Sconnect’s videos which allegedly infringed EOne’s IP rights.

The dispute has captured Vietnam’s public attention for different reasons. Firstly, this is the first time a local company has initiated legal proceedings, the position in which Vietnam usually is on the receiving end. Secondly, this is a multi-jurisdictional dispute. Before Sconnect filed the case in Vietnam, EOne had sued Sconnect in Russia and the UK.

Sconnect reported that the Russian court in Feb 2022 ruled in their favour that Wolfoo was not a derivative work from Peppa. However, EOne, through an article on Managing IP, fiercely refuted Sconnect’s report as EOne voluntarily withdrew the case, and consequently, there was no judgement as Sconnect had claimed.

While the UK court was considering whether to admit EOne’s submission, Sconnect took pre-emptive action by taking EOne to Vietnam’s court. Surprisingly (or not), in addition to the adversarial route, Sconnect petitioned four Vietnamese Ministries for help, acting like a youngster pleading for parental intervention. The difference is that none of the parties is a child.

Sconnect proposed that the Ministry of Information and Communications; the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; the Ministry of Industry and Trade; and the Ministry of Science and Technology assist the company by asking EOne to cease “unfair competition activities” and online platforms such as YouTube, Google, and Facebook…; refrain from accepting EOne’s copyright actions until the UK court delivered its judgement.

In short, Sconnect’s persistent lobbying mobilises all the state agencies to pressure a foreign company to leave the present conflict. This clearly does not sit well with international law and the FTAs that Vietnam has just signed recently.

When Christmas was in the air, on December 23, 2022, the UK court ruled that the UK had jurisdiction over the dispute. The court refuted the two reasons given by Sconnect. That is, (1) Sconnect does not “target” the UK market but only focuses on Vietnam and the US; and (2) Vietnam, not the UK, is the convenient forum to resolve disputes.

Overwhelming evidence has shown that Sconnect has targeted other markets. A screenshot of their website demonstrates one audio clip having 1,039,910 views and its accessibility from the UK. The currency indicated on Sconnect’s YouTube channel is British pounds, and banner adverts are directed towards a UK audience. On March 25, 2021, a Sconnect-sponsored online article on “The List” (said to be a UK focussed online magazine) headlined “Wolfoo is dominating YouTube for kids”. The court has found that Sconnect purposefully spoke to a UK audience by publishing on the List.

The court has also ruled that Wolfoo has been dubbed into French, Spanish and Japanese. It would not make sense to dub into those languages unless Sconnect intended to “capture” or target those countries’ audiences. This contrasted with Sconnect’s evidence that the target audience was confined to the US and Vietnam.

However, if Sconnect could show another court clearly or distinctly more appropriate, the UK court can stay the current proceedings. Unfortunately, Sconnect was unable to present concrete proof. They only stated that the case should be resolved “in equivalent jurisdiction” without further explanation.

But Sconnect counterargued that since EOne has been determined to pursue litigation in different jurisdictions (for example, Russia), why can’t they do the same in Vietnam and the US because of alleged IPR infringement originating in these countries? The judge found that Sconnect’s witnesses spoke Vietnamese and were present in Vietnam, so Sconnect considered Vietnam, not the United States, a better alternative.

On the other hand, the court provided ample evidence supporting the UK’s jurisdiction. EOne’s goodwill, copyright and trademarks cannot realistically be protected outside of the UK; EOne is registered here, and Wolfoo and the Peppa Pig Audio Clips use English. Both parties have a legal team in England and Wales; damage to goodwill and other losses claimed have occurred here (as opposed to Vietnam) since EOne is a UK-based company. There are witnesses situated in England and Wales. Also, the use of IP owned by EOne is alleged to have been created in the UK; thus, a significant act has happened in this jurisdiction.

The advent of the internet has given rise to many problems in IP rights. It undermines the territorial principle in IP law, making IP disputes as complicated as a spider web because there can be many overlapping jurisdictions. Given that the alleged infringement is taking place on YouTube and is therefore global, it has made the current very interesting from a jurisdictional standpoint.