Hasbro v Sconnect: High Court grants summary judgment over Wolfoo's copying of Peppa Pig sound recordings

The High Court has granted summary judgment in favour of the rights holders of the animated children's series Peppa Pig against the Vietnamese creators of a rival series called Wolfoo, finding that Wolfoo videos had copied sound recordings protected by copyright across a range of jurisdictions, in a judgement handed down on 25 June 2026 ([2026] EWHC 1546 (Ch)).

The claimants, Hasbro Consumer Products Licensing Limited and Astley Baker Davies Limited, alleged that Wolfoo, available on YouTube since around May 2018, had infringed their rights in a series of individual audio clips recorded for use in Peppa Pig episodes. Those clips, comprising character voices and sound effects, had been indirectly copied into Wolfoo videos, initially through an independent contractor, Mr Khoa, who admitted downloading sounds from Peppa Pig content on YouTube. The defendants disputed that copying had extended beyond Mr Khoa's admitted acts and maintained that all Wolfoo audio produced from mid-2020 onwards was independently created.

The scale of the infringement was striking. By the end of 2024, some 38,642 Wolfoo videos had been released. Subscriber numbers across the defendants' YouTube channels exceeded 113 million by April 2025, with an estimated 48 billion worldwide YouTube views accumulated to that point. At their peak in September 2021, monthly views reached two billion. The claimants estimated the defendants' corresponding YouTube revenues to have run into tens of millions of US dollars.

The defendants, incorporated in Vietnam and Delaware respectively, did not attend the March 2026 hearing, citing financial constraints and geographical location. They submitted a skeleton argument but declined to commission expert evidence of their own.

Mr Justice Richard Smith accepted spectrogram analysis carried out by independent sound analyst Simon Weir, whose methodology was endorsed by audio expert Mr Foster. Of a representative sample of pre-issue English-language Wolfoo videos, 91 out of 92 were found to contain at least three confirmed matches to Peppa Pig sounds, with a minimum of 1,175 matches identified across the sample. Post-issue videos also contained matches, directly undermining the defendants' assertion that infringing content had been removed.

On the multi-jurisdictional scope of the claim, covering the UK, the 27 EU member states and a further group of countries, Smith J applied the presumption of similarity in the absence of any foreign law plea from the defendants. Given the harmonisation of EU copyright law, the UK's historical alignment with it, and the international treaty framework under the Rome Convention, TRIPS and the WPPT, the Court concluded there was no meaningful basis for the defendants' assertion that local laws differed materially from English law. Bare assertion without particularisation was insufficient to displace the presumption.

On ownership and chain of title, the Court accepted the evidence of Philip Davies, one of Peppa Pig's original creators, as detailed, convincing and supported by contemporaneous documentation. The defendants' challenges to the chain of title and their complaints about document redactions were dismissed.

Summary judgment was entered against the First Defendant, Sconnect Co Ltd, in full. As for the Fourth Defendant, Mr Manh Hoang Ta, the company's owner, founder and CEO, summary judgment was granted for the post-issue period only. The Court was satisfied that Mr Ta had been aware of, and had authorised, the continuation of infringing activity after proceedings commenced, including the relocation of approximately 70 removed videos to different YouTube channels rather than their deletion. His pre-issue accessory liability was left for determination at trial.

A consequentials hearing is to be listed this term to settle the final terms of relief, including the scope of injunctive relief.

[2026] EWHC 1546 (Ch) | Chancery Division, Business and Property Courts | Mr Justice Richard Smith | Decided: 25 June 2026