Russian Peppa Pig revenge ruling opens door to widespread copyright theft

Entertainment One’s Peppa Pig

A Russian court has thrown out a copyright infringement claim from transatlantic producer and distributor Entertainment One (eOne) over its children’s property Peppa Pig, potentially opening the door to widespread format and copyright theft in the country.

eOne had pursued a Russian entrepreneur for a token 40,000 roubles (US$522) after he created his own version of the hit children’s character. However, Judge Andrei Slavinsky, sitting at a court in Kirov, dismissed the claim, citing “unfriendly actions of the United States of America and affiliated foreign countries.”

Russia has faced economic sanctions from the Western world since it began its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine two weeks ago. Multiple international businesses, including McDonalds and Apple, have withdrawn from Russia, while content business companies including Netflix, Disney, Banijay and BBC Studios have all ended their activities there.

The court’s revenge ruling is coupled with a Russian government ruling last week that means patented inventions and industrial designs from “unfriendly countries” can now be used without permission or compensation. The UK, US, EU and Australia are among a list of 16 territories designated as “unfriendly” by the Putin regime.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian media community has appealed to the European Commission (EC) to impose sanctions on all Russian TV channels as the conflict intensifies.

An open letter has been addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EC, and VP Věra Jourová from Ukrainian broadcasters 1+1 media, StarLight Media, Media Group Ukraine and Inter Media Group.

They have requested the commission sanctions all Russian TV channels that are broadcasting by satellite or any other technology, and ban their distribution on the EU territory.

Instead of Russian TV channels, the companies want providers to broadcast Ukrainian TV, which has been broadcasting a United News marathon, also available in English.

The EC has already ordered a continent-wide ban on RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik, but the authors of the letter say the influence of other channels, such as RT News, RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24, NTV Mir, Soyuz, 8 Kanal International, Pobeda International, 1 Kanal Europa, RT France, which are still broadcasting via European satellites, is also “detrimental to informational security of the whole world.”

The letter reads: “Russian TV channels are justifying the Russian war against Ukraine in their multiple news stories, they are withholding the truth about the real scale of the military actions and their own losses, they are discrediting Ukrainian authorities and international partners, undermining with such actions democratic values and principles and questioning freedom of speech as the basis of European values, and also generating an enormous amount of fake news, thus deceiving their audience not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the EU countries and in the United States of America.

“Moreover, Russians living both in the Russian Federation and abroad focus on the information spread by the Russian media, which in fact deprives them of access to unbiased information or at least an alternative point of view.”