The drama of the social networks Sylvanian, which has often gone viral for its darkly comic sketches with small toys of anthropomorphic animals, mysteriously shut up this year after it landed in legal hot water with the toy manufacturer.
Epoch, the Japanese company behind toys, sued the creator of the account earlier this year, claiming that he has been “doubling his efforts to exploit the copyright of EPOH and registered trademarks for his own commercial benefit” despite the company’s attempts to solve the problem in a friendly way.
Sylvanian families, also known as Callico creatures in the United States and Canada, feel dolls in the form of beautiful and anthropomorphized animals. They first launched in Japan in 1985. Creatures range from bunnies and kittens to squirrels and more, all with wide and black eyes and small clothing.
Online, the creator of Irish content Thea von Engelbrechten has taken the adorable creatures and has given them background stories with mature themes, placing them in real world stages that are not as innocent or familiar as the dolls seem to be.
His Sylvanian drama page has 2.5 million followers in Tiktok and 1 million on Instagram. The videos, all of which present CALICO creatures, often accumulate millions of views each. In these soap opera style clips, creatures could get drunk, take drugs, commit violence or do other unpleasant things.
The demand for Epoch, presented at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 7, initially flew under the radar, but called online attention last week when some media reported the situation after noticing months of silence of the account. The Irish Independent was the first to report the demand.
The company accused Von Engelbrechten of copyright violation, registered trademark and unfair competition. He declared that he has been presenting Calico Critters products in videos without permission, even for commercial purposes when announcing the goods and services of other brands. The lawsuit added that she also uses an image with copyright such as the social media profile photo of Sylvanian’s drama.
Von Engelbrechten declined to comment. Epoch’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The demand underlines the potential tensions that may arise when creators use brand materials such as drivers of their content. The first games creators faced a similar legal setback when using games and characters with copyright in their videos, for example. The case against Sylvanian’s drama is the last to highlight how the creative economy extends to horcajadas between the line between the content generated by the user and the copyright protections.
Von Engelbrechten’s account has become so popular in recent years that some on the Internet have begun to associate toys with Sylvania’s drama account more than the official families of Sylvanian families or Calico Critters’ brands. In his demand, Epoch wrote that Von Engelbrechten has caused “irreparable injuries to the good will and reputation of Epoch, noting that the brand originally intended to involve children.
Von EngelBrechten began publishing Sylvanian drama videos in 2021, when he was a 19 -year -old multimedia student at the University of Dublin. She told the tab in a 2023 interview that her videos were destined to parody programs such as “Gossip Girl” and “Pretty Little Liars.”
“I am always surprised that I’m no longer canceled for the things I do,” he said. “I do not mean any damage and also … Many of the problems on which bromeo are problems in my own life. There are many things about weight and diet and people who fight with that, and that is just me joking about me. So I’m not making fun of anyone.”
The account has not published on any of its platforms since January. His last video was a paying association that promotes “Squid Game” shortly after the launch of the second season of the successful Netflix program. (Demand indicated that Sylvania’s drama has announced in a similar way to the tastes of Kate Spade, Sephora, Burberry, Hilton and Taco Bell).
Epoch affirmed in his complaint that Tiktok had previously eliminated alleged offenders of its platform after the company delivered a notice of the copyright law of the digital millennium in October 2023. But because it could not resolve a permanent resolution with von Engelbrechten, Epoch wrote, “I had no choice but to submit this demand” this year. “
The company, which demanded a jury trial, requested an order that declared that Von Engelbrechten violated his copyright, as well as an order that prohibits him from violating any copyright author in the future. He also requested damage to damage of up to $ 150,000 for each job with infringed copyright, in addition to all the profits obtained by Von Engelbrechten as a result of the alleged infraction.
However, according to a judicial document this month, Epoch and Von Engelbrechten are now “actively committed to liquidation discussions” and plan to present a joint letter with a proposed plan to advance.
Von Engelbrechten until August 8 to respond to the lawsuit, with the prior conference to the initial trial scheduled for August 14.
