RUSSIA has sanctioned PEPPA PIG in a bizarre act of retaliation against the west as the crisis deepens over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
From Chelsea Football Club to oil imports, industries connected to Russia and Russian oligarchs have been hit with sanctions from the UK and EU since the war began.
Peppa Pig has been sanctioned by Russia[/caption]
It comes after Russian oligarchs were hit with sanctions from the UK and EU[/caption]
But now a court has ruled that trademarks for the world famous image of Peppa Pig can be flouted in retaliation for British sanctions against Moscow.
The ruling by Judge Andrei Slavinsky in a court in Kirov could pave the way for the mass abuse of Western trademarks and copyrights.
He claimed the “restrictive” political and economic sanctions from the West over the military invasion of Ukraine allowed the court to refuse infringement claims brought by Entertainment One UK Ltd.
Britain and the US are officially seen by Russia as “unfriendly countries” due to collapsing relations over Putin’s military offensive against Ukraine.
In 2019 US multinational Hasbro acquired the Peppa Pig TV series in a £2.9billion deal for Entertainment One .
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The court ruling links the Peppa Pig and Daddy Pig infringement claim to “unfriendly actions of the United States of America and affiliated foreign countries”, according to legal documents from the Kirov case.
It’s thought the case has been seized on by the authorities in Moscow as a weapon against Western sanctions.
Entertainment One’s case in sleepy Kirov – 595 miles northeast of Moscow – had claimed an “abuse of right”.
The obscure case was brought against Ivan Kozhevnikov, an entrepreneur, to protect trademark rights for drawings of the beloved children’s cartoon characters.
The British company can appeal the bizarre ruling against its claim for around £400 in compensation for unlawful copying of its images.
By the time the case was heard, the value of the claim had sunk to £230 due to the plummeting of Putin’s rouble currency caused by the war in Ukraine.
The ruling is seen as revenge for Western patent authorities severing their ties with Russia due to the Ukrainian crisis.
The company had previously enjoyed success in Russia over its claims.
The Kirov case is one of multiple Peppa and Daddy Pig infringement cases filed in Russia from Britain including several in Siberia.
It comes after Boris Johnson made a bizzare speech about Peppa pig to the Confederation of British Industry in Novemeber.
Referring to a theme park in Hampshire, he told surprised business executives: “Yesterday I went, as we all must, to Peppa Pig World…
“I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place: it has very safe streets, discipline in schools.”
He went on, after losing his place in his speech: “Who would have believed that a pig that looks like a hairdryer or possibly a Picasso-like hairdryer, a pig that was rejected by the BBC, would now be exported to 180 countries with theme parks both in America and China?”
The ruling could trigger more widespread abuse of trademarks as was common in Russia in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Category: News, World News
