Only a piglet in Russia's war on patents

Post-Ukraine, Russia has held back from appropriating intellectual property despite a law to punish unfriendly countries

- LATHA JISHNU

THE STORY of Peppa Pig, a high-profile case involving copyright infringement, is as absurd as it can get in the time of war. Peppa Pig is not well-known in India but she is a very popular character in British cartoon TV series and books for children, an anthropomorphised pink porcine who delights the very young and their parents. One such parent is Boris Johnson who till a few days ago was the Prime Minister of the UK. And thereby hangs this tale of trademark infringement permitted by Russia, the only such case since the onset of its conflict with Ukraine.

The popular piglet appears to have become the unlikely victim of Moscow's decree aimed at punishing unfriendly countries, that is, countries which have imposed crippling sanctions on Russia. Peppa Pig is the only one penalised so far, making it clear that Moscow does not intend to use appropriation of intellectual property (IP) as a tool of war. The case, however, has provided grist to the vast propaganda machinery of the West which has been putting out alarmist reports that Russia intends to steal IP wholesale and that a law Moscow enacted in the wake of its war with Ukraine was a free pass for piracy and IP theft in the country. The law in question is Decree 299 issued by the Kremlin in early March which states that when the government decides on the use of an invention, a utility model, or an industrial design without the patent holder's consent, it would pay no compensation to the owner.

Although the infringement suit was instituted before the Ukraine war, the judgement was governed by the sentiment of Decree 299. When Ivan Kozhevnikov, a Russian entrepreneur, created his own version of the cartoon character he was sued for trademark violation and copyright infringement by One Entertainment, the British company that owns Peppa Pig, in 2021, several months before Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. But while rejecting One