A win for Peppa Pig in the long-running battle with Wolfoo
On 25 June 2026, the owners of the rights in the iconic British cartoon series Peppa Pig obtained summary judgment on the sound recording copyright part of their claim against the Vietnamese owners of the Wolfoo cartoon. According to the Judge (Sir Richard Smith), despite “the enormous amount of smoke raised by the Defendants”, it was appropriate to resolve this part of the claim summarily.
Unusually, the decision was made on a (virtually) worldwide basis. The Judge concluded that the Defendants had not done enough to displace the presumption – mainly derived from international copyright treaties – that the numerous foreign laws in play were similar to English law.
Another unusual feature of the decision was that even though the application was for summary judgment, the Claimants were permitted to rely on expert evidence in support of their case on copying (the Defendants chose not to call their own expert evidence).
Gwilym Harbottle of Hogarth Chambers represented the Claimants.
