Little Peppa the Pig wins notorious IP case in Russia

“Little pig, little pig, let me come in” — says the Big Bad Wolf; “No, not by the hair of my chinny chin chin” – answers the Little Pig, — “Then I will blow your house”, threatens the Wolf. Indeed, a notorious court decision taken on 2 March 2022 in Arbitration Court of the Kirov region of the Russian Federation, which threatened the interests of Peppa the Pig copyright and trademark owner, Entertainment One, was widely cited by mass media in a wave of speculations about the collapse of intellectual property in Russia.
Fortunately, as in the well-known fairy tale, the most recent appeal decision proves them wrong and the little pig won again. The hearing at the Second Court of Appeal took place in the city of Kirov on 21 June 2022 reversed the earlier first instance decision. The full text of the court decision has yet to be published.
Obviously, the initial decision was based on misreading and misinterpretation of the Presidential Decree “About application of special economic measures in connection with unfriendly actions of the United States of America and affiliated with them foreign states and international organizations” No. 79 of February 28, 2022.
The recent positive decision is one of many lawsuits against trademark and copyright infringement won by Entertainment One. There have been around 300 successful cases in the past years in Russia, which stopped the unauthorized use of popular cartoon characters and brought the company compensation reaching about EUR 500,000 in one case.