FANS are up in arms after a beloved TikTok account has been silent for months following a legal firestorm over its use of adorable toys in viral videos.
Thea Von Englebrechten is the brain behind Sylvanian Drama, a TikTok account with more than 2.5 million followers at the time of writing.
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The account is known for using dolls from Sylvanian Families — also known as Calico Critters in the US — to create soap opera-like storylines.
Some videos feature the dolls, which are anthropomorphized woodland creatures, passed out drunk, holding weapons, and running over other dolls in cars.
But von Englebrechten suddenly stopped posting videos earlier this year, with the last clip being an ad for the Netflix series Squid Game.
According to court documents obtained by Vulture, the creator has been dealing with a lawsuit for several months after the Epoch Company, a Japanese toy giant that created Sylvanian Families, filed a lawsuit against von Englebrechten on April 7.
The lawsuit accuses von Englebrechten of copyright infringement and “creating, publishing, and disseminating online advertising videos” using the dolls without Epoch’s permission.
Von Engelbrechten has also used the dolls in advertisements with major brands such as Marc Jacobs, Burberry, and Hilton Hotels, according to the lawsuit.
Epoch claims von Englebrechten’s videos have caused “irreparable injury” to its reputation and squandered potential licensing opportunities.
“Defendant is ‘working to build Sylvanian Drama’s own brand image’ as an advertising and content creation service provider at the expense of Epoch’s goodwill it has built over decades,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit is calling for a formal declaration that von Engelbrechten infringed on its copyright and committed acts of false endorsement.
The company is also asking the court to issue an order preventing von Engelbrechten from any further alleged copyright infringement.
Statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work are being sought along with any profits the creator made from the account.
YEARS LONG BEEF
It seems that Epoch has been upset with von Engelbrechten’s worth for years, with the company sending TikTok a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice over the account in October 2023, according to the lawsuit.
Epoch argued that von Englebrechten’s didn’t count as fair use, which resulted in TikTok disabling her account in April 2024.
However, von Englebrechten got her account back after filing a counter-notice because her content counted as parody.
Epoch disagreed with this, arguing that the videos didn’t carry a message about the dolls nor offer any commentary or criticism about them, according to the lawsuit.
After von Englebrechten’s account was brought back, Epoch claims that it tried to reach an amicable resolution for nearly a year; however, von Englebrechten allegedly doubled “her efforts to exploit Epoch’s copyrights and trademarks for her own commercial gain,” the lawsuit claims.
Last year, von Englebrechten told Marketing Brew that Epoch never reached out requesting a collaboration.
“I’d definitely be interested if they ever wanted to. But it’s not something that has happened,” she told the outlet at the time.
At the time of writing, Von Engelbrechten has yet to formally respond to the lawsuit.
FANS REACT
After news of the lawsuit came to light, many of von Englebrechten’s followers have come to her defense.
“She’s just a girl, don’t sue her!” wrote one person on von Englebrechten’s latest TikTok.
“Sylvanian Drama dropping banger after banger only to get sued years later…true genius is never recognized,” wrote another person on X.
“Nooo Sylvanian Drama literally made me want to buy Sylvanian Families at my grown age and now they’re getting sued???” tweeted another person.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the Epoch Company and von Englebrechten for comment.
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