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The owners of Peppa Pig have won a copyright battle against the Vietnamese creators of an 'imposter' character who racked up hundreds of millions of online views using clips from the British show.

A High Court judge in London this week ruled that SConnect, the creators of the hugely popular character Wolfoo, illegally copied audio from Peppa Pig in a 'prolific' and 'long-standing' manner.

Mr Justice Smith also ruled that 'all videos featuring Wolfoo' must be taken down before 4pm BST on Monday.

The ruling comes after a lengthy legal battle. Hasbro and Peppa Pig's creators Astley Baker Davies Ltd. took SConnect to court in London in 2022.

They claimed the Vietnamese firm had tried to 'deceive the young Wolfoo viewership, most aged between two and five, into believing that Wolfoo is the same character as Peppa Pig', or connected to her.

Though they initially focused on the similar art style, Hasbro and Astley Baker Davies Ltd. refocused their case on the audio used in Wolfoo videos as they believed it would be easier to prove that sound clips had been lifted.

The judge agreed, stating that their evidence of 'copying of the audio clips is compelling', adding: 'That copying was extensive, seemingly endemic at least so far as the English language Wolfoo videos are concerned.'

The owners of Peppa Pig have won a copyright battle against the Vietnamese creators of an 'imposter' character

A High Court judge in London this week ruled that SConnect, the creators of the hugely popular character Wolfoo (pictured), illegally copied audio from Peppa Pig

SConnect denied the copyright infringement claim but accepted that some Wolfoo videos made before mid-2020 used audio from Peppa Pig.

They claimed an independent third-party contractor had used the clips without the company's knowledge, adding that all infringing videos were removed and all Wolfoo animations created after mid-2020 only used voices and sounds created in-house.

But the judge presiding over the case said the fact that the sounds were supplied by a third party was 'irrelevant'. He added that while many of the infringing videos were removed, others were simply moved to other channels.

He additionally said the claim that all new sounds were recorded in-house could be 'disproved'.

The judge said clips from Peppa Pig's show were found in all 92 English-language Wolfoo videos that were examined, and around three-quarters of all the foreign-language videos.

SConnect tried to argue that the ruling should only apply to the videos examined in the sample, but Mr Justice Smith declared that all Wolfoo videos should now be removed.

The firm also tried to say the area covering his ruling was 'too broad', but the judge said it would apply in all 166 World Trade Organisation states, which includes the UK, EU, US and Vietnam.

Andrew Lee, partner and head of intellectual property at law firm Brandsmiths, which represented Hasbro, told the BBC it was a 'significant judgment'.

Peppa Pig is available 'in hundreds of countries around the world, and this was obviously a major problem for the brand because of the scale of Wolfoo,' he said.

'By bringing the claim in the UK courts, which was our home territory, and because the defendants had activity in the United Kingdom even though they were based in Vietnam, we were able to persuade the court to hear the case on a wider scale.

'So it was about trying to protect the Peppa Pig brand in one forum, rather than having to bring actions in every single country.'