On July 28, Sconnect - the owner of the Wolfoo cartoon character series sent a petition to Vietnamese authorities to support YouTube in stopping accepting baseless copyright claims from Entertainment One UK Limited in the United Kingdom - abbreviated as eOne or EO (owner of Peppa Pig), and requested YouTube to restore more than 3,000 Wolfoo videos that were removed from the platform.
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Immediately after Sconnect sent a petition for help, on August 2, VDCA Chairman Nguyen Minh Hong signed a document to the agencies: Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information (Ministry of Information and Communications), Department of Copyright (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology), National Competition Commission requesting these agencies to review related documents on the copyright dispute between the two cartoon characters Wolfoo and Peppa Pig to support and protect Vietnamese businesses in the digital environment when doing international business.
At the same time, VDCA also requested state management agencies to request Google/YouTube and intermediary platform service providers to thoroughly and objectively review all documents and comply with current Vietnamese laws to avoid causing damage to Vietnamese businesses while waiting for the court's decision on the lawsuit filed by the parties.
On the same day, VDCA sent a document to Google/YouTube requesting that this platform carefully review the dispute, stop deleting/blocking Sconnect's Wolfoo video, and not cause damage to Vietnamese businesses while waiting for the Court's verdict being sued by the parties.
The document sent by VDCA to Google/YouTube stated that, through the content of the report and recommendations of Sconnect, VDCA found that the copyright dispute between the two units, Sconnect and Entertainment One UK Limited, has been going on for a long time, with little progress to end the case, significantly affecting the production and business activities of Sconnect. The removal/deletion of more than 3,000 Wolfoo video content from the YouTube platform based solely on EO's copyright report is not being carried out in accordance with the current legal procedures of Vietnam based on Article 114 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP.
VDCA believes that Sconnect has followed the correct procedures in providing a notice requesting objection to the temporary removal or blocking of access to digital information content, along with supporting documents and evidence, and Sconnect has also filed a lawsuit against EO at the Hanoi People's Court.
“Currently, the Court has accepted and is in the process of resolving the case, but the intermediary service provider such as YouTube is still deleting/blocking Sconnect’s videos. This shows that YouTube has not complied with Vietnamese law,” the VDCA’s document sent to Google/YouTube stated.
VDCA always supports Vietnamese enterprises in their production and business activities in compliance with Vietnamese law and international laws and conventions that Vietnam has participated in, and requires international enterprises to comply with the laws of the host country when doing business in Vietnam. In the field of digital content creation in Vietnam, units need to conduct fair competition activities, comply with the provisions of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP dated April 26, 2023 of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Intellectual Property on Copyright and related rights.
Copyright dispute between Wolfoo and Peppa Pig
Since early 2022, Entertainment One (UK) - abbreviated as eOne or EO - has been engaged in copyright disputes over the Wolfoo character set on the YouTube platform. Accordingly, EO has continuously made baseless copyright claims, causing YouTube to delete many Wolfoo videos. Since January 2022, EO has filed a lawsuit against Sconnect in courts in the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.
In Russia, in July 2022, the Moscow Court ruled that Wolfoo did not infringe copyright and prevented EO from suing for similar content. In November 2022, the Russian Court ruled that EO must compensate Sconnect for part of the lawsuit costs.
In the UK, the UK High Court is currently hearing the case and has not yet decided.
In Vietnam, Sconnect sued EO in 02 lawsuits at the Hanoi People's Court from August 2022. Up to now, the Hanoi Court is handling the lawsuit and has not yet brought it to trial.
Sconnect filed a lawsuit against EO with the National Competition Commission of Vietnam and the Commission is reviewing the content of the dispute, initially determining that EO and YouTube have very clear signs of violating the Competition Law.
Sconnect filed administrative complaints with state agencies including the Copyright Office and the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information. The two agencies reviewed the file. Since October 2022, the two departments have responded in writing to YouTube requesting not to accept EO's copyright complaints, not to delete or block Wolfoo videos while the courts are handling them, and to comply with Vietnamese law.
The dispute has lasted for nearly 2 years, and no court has yet declared Wolfoo guilty of copyright infringement. Sconnect has an advantage as the Russian court has ruled that Wolfoo did not infringe and ordered the plaintiff, EO, to pay compensation.
Since July 2023, EO has continued to copyright some background images and some exclamation sounds in Wolfoo films, leading YouTube to delete more than 3,000 Wolfoo videos. Despite efforts to appeal and complain to YouTube, there has been no response. On July 28, 2023, Sconnect once again sent a written report and requested Vietnamese state agencies to intervene and protect Vietnamese intellectual products that are being unfairly competed on YouTube.
EUIPO: EO's opposition to the Wolfoo trademark is unfounded
On July 28, 2023, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued a decision rejecting the opposition filed by EO against Sconnect's Wolfoo trademark application in the EU. The reason for the EUIPO's rejection was that EO failed to submit the necessary evidence of the reputation of the Peppa Pig trademark, meaning that EO's opposition was determined to be unfounded. The EUIPO decision also did not go into detail about the grounds for the Office's refusal. Thus, with the EUIPO's decision, it is likely that Wolfoo will be granted protection for the Wolfoo trademark in the EU.
Sconnect filed an application for the Wolfoo trademark in the EU on 06/04/2022 and the EO filed an opposition on 07/09/2022. On 28/07/2023, the EUIPO officially decided to reject the EO's first opposition.
The Wolfoo brand has now been certified by intellectual property management agencies in Vietnam and Russia. Wolfoo is recognized by the Vietnam Intellectual Property Association as a Top 10 competitive brand in Vietnam in 2022 and 2023.
Regarding copyright, Wolfoo is granted copyright certificates for the entire set of characters, scripts, background images... in the US and Vietnam.
According to a market research report conducted by Asia Plus in September 2022, the recognition rate of Wolfoo in Vietnam is very high: More than 77% of parents with children aged 2-8 know about Wolfoo animation; 88% of children aged 2-8 know about Wolfoo animation.
Phuong Anh
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