Peppa Pig owners secure win in Chinese Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

The owners of children’s animated series “Peppa Pig” have emerged victorious in a Chinese copyright infringement dispute.

China’s state news agency Xinhua reported yesterday, January 1, that the Intermediate People's Court of Ji'an City had ordered the copyright infringer, surnamed Li, to compensate the cartoon’s creator.

The court said that as both China and the UK have joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the owners of “Peppa Pig” (Entertainment One and Astley Baker Davies) should be protected by China’s copyright law, according to Xinhua.

Canadian-based Entertainment One and UK-headquartered animation company Astley Baker Davies allegedly sued Li in August 2019, after discovering that the defendant was selling a toy similar to Peppa Pig's cartoon image online.

According to the court, Li took advantage of the TV series’ popularity to boost sales of the unauthorized toys.

Entertainment One and Astley Baker Davies didn’t produce sufficient evidence of its specific monetary losses, according to the court, but did pay the necessary expenses to stop the infringement. It ordered Li to pay Rmb30,000 ($4,309) in compensation and stop infringing the cartoon.

In 2018, “Peppa Pig” was banned on popular Chinese streaming platform Douyin after the character allegedly became associated with a “gangster” subculture.

The censorship, according to The Independent, came after Peppa’s likeness became popular with a subculture of internet users known as “shehuiren” or “society people”, a group of people that reportedly have “gangster” attitudes.

However, in early January 2019, the Chinese government allowed the release of a new film, “Peppa Pig Celebrates Chinese New Year” and the porcine character regained its popularity.

Entertainment One was acquired earlier this week by US toymaker Hasbro, in a $3.8 billion deal.

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