More than 3,000 Wolfoo videos were deleted by YouTube, Sconnect continues to 'cry for help'

This is the latest development in the copyright dispute between two sets of animated characters Wolfoo (owned by Sconnect Vietnam) and Peppa Pig (owned by Entertainment One UK Limited in the United Kingdom - abbreviated as eOne or EO).

On July 28, 2023, Sconnect sent a report to 4 agencies: the Copyright Office (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information ( Ministry of Information and Communications ), the National Competition Commission, and the Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA) requesting these 4 agencies to support discussions with Google and YouTube so that this platform: Stop receiving and accepting unfounded copyright requests for Wolfoo videos from EO. At the same time, request Google/YouTube to respect and comply with Vietnamese law, especially Article 114 of Decree No. 17/2023/ND-CP, requesting YouTube to quickly restore more than 3,000 Wolfoo videos that have been removed from the YouTube platform.

Many restored Wolfoo channels are locked again

The copyright dispute between the two cartoon characters Wolfoo and Peppa Pig has lasted from the beginning of 2022 until now, the two sides have been suing each other in courts of countries: Russia, England and Vietnam. In the process of resolving the dispute, from September 2022, Sconnect Vietnam has filed a complaint to 4 ministers: Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Industry and Trade , Ministry of Science and Technology; At the same time, Sconnect has filed a complaint to the Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA) requesting: The authorities consider and support the protection of Sconnect's legitimate rights and interests, which are being seriously violated by foreign enterprises in the digital environment, specifically on the YouTube platform.

Wolfoo animation is produced by Vietnamese staff.

After accepting the case and carefully reviewing the records and reports of Sconnect, three agencies: Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA), the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information and the Copyright Office sent documents to Google and YouTube. The documents of VDCA and the two Departments all shared the same view: Requesting Google to carefully review and verify the issues Sconnect raised in the reports related to the dispute between the two parties, which is developing complicatedly and no court has yet made a final conclusion. Requesting YouTube to restore Wolfoo videos , Sconnect's YouTube channels to be deleted, locked, and blocked from posting new content until there is an official verdict from the courts where the two parties are suing each other. Specifically, Sconnect is suing EO at the People's Court of Hanoi; the National Competition Commission of Vietnam (3 lawsuits) and EO is suing Sconnect at a court in the United Kingdom (1 lawsuit).

According to Sconnect's report, after VDCA and the two Departments spoke up, YouTube restored some of the locked Wolfoo videos, and reopened the upload rights of 19 blocked YouTube channels of Sconnect, thanks to which Sconnect's difficulties on YouTube have had positive changes since the beginning of 2023, Sconnect's business operations are gradually recovering.

However, since the beginning of July, Sconnect has continued to detect that EO has abused intellectual property rights, copyright infringement on YouTube with Wolfoo videos, notably Google/Youtube has received and continued to block the upload rights of many YouTube channels and delete Wolfoo videos that were previously opened by YouTube. These are violations of the provisions of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP of Vietnam, although Sconnect has made great efforts to send information to Google/Youtube about the provisions of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, according to which, Google/Youtube can only delete/remove Sconnect's Wolfoo videos when there is a valid judgment or decision of the Court. But YouTube has not responded and continues to block channels and delete Wolfoo videos.

Sconnect denies copyright infringement allegations

Having tried every way to complain and communicate with YouTube but received no response, Sconnect once again "called for help" to VDCA and the Copyright Department, the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information and the National Competition Commission.

According to Sconnect's report, since April 2023, EO has reported copyright infringement on many of Sconnect's Wolfoo videos on the grounds that Sconnect used background images from Peppa Pig videos in Wolfoo videos. Although EO did not provide clear evidence of which specific content/images of any Peppa Pig videos were violated by Wolfoo videos, YouTube still removed/deleted more than 3,000 Wolfoo videos from the platform, causing particularly serious damage to Sconnect.

In July 2023, EO reported copyright of 18 Wolfoo videos on the grounds that Sconnect was using audio in Peppa Pig videos. The copyrighted audio videos only accounted for 01 second/1 video, with exclamation sounds in the characters' stories, specifically the sounds: "Hurray", "oh", "laughter", "wow", "huh", "hmm".

In response to EO's complaint about copyright of background images and sounds, Sconnect affirmed that EO's copyright reporting of background images and sounds used in the Wolfoo video was baseless, for the following reasons: EO and YouTube did not provide clear evidence and did not clarify which specific content/sound in which Peppa Pig video the Wolfoo video violated.

“The scenes and backgrounds in the Wolfoo video were all created by Sconnect staff. The sounds were recorded directly from Vietnamese voice actors. These images and sounds were created based on creative materials and principles as prescribed by Vietnamese law. Therefore, EO's reporting of copyright infringement of the scenes, backgrounds, and sounds and YouTube's acceptance of EO's reports to delete/remove Sconnect's Wolfoo video are baseless and illegal,” affirmed Lawyer Pham Van Anh, Head of Legal Department of Sconnect.

According to Lawyer Pham Van Anh, the above sounds are interjections that are easily encountered in everyday conversations and are commonly used globally. The words that create these sounds are not important components to create the content of the work, are not owned by any entity and are not subject to intellectual property protection.

Sconnect said that the company has made great efforts to inform YouTube to comply with the platform's policies and comply with the provisions of Vietnamese law in Decree 17/2023/ND-CP, but has not received any response from Google/YouTube representatives. As of July 28, 2023, Google/YouTube continues to accept EO's copyright reports and continues to copyright Wolfoo videos on YouTube. To date, more than 3,000 Wolfoo videos have been removed from YouTube and the number of deleted, unrecoverable videos continues to increase.

Wolfoo videos on YouTube are the subject of a dispute in a case being handled by the Hanoi Court and the UK High Court. To date, no Court has issued a decision to block/remove Wolfoo videos. Therefore, YouTube's continued blocking/removal of Wolfoo videos is contrary to the provisions of Article 114 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP.

Phuong Thao

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