Can You Sell Peppa Pig Merchandise on Etsy? Trademark & Copyright Rules (2026)

Peppa Pig is one of the most-watched preschool brands on the planet, and Etsy is full of Peppa birthday banners, custom T-shirts, crochet plushies, party favours and digital cake toppers. It looks like easy money: parents search "Peppa Pig birthday" constantly, and most of these listings are clearly handmade. So sellers assume they're safe.

They are not. Peppa Pig is owned by Entertainment One (eOne), a subsidiary of toy giant Hasbro, and eOne is one of the most aggressive intellectual-property litigants on the internet. If you're selling anything with Peppa on it, you're a target. This guide explains exactly what's protected, the very real lawsuits sellers are losing, and what you can legally sell instead.

Short version: "Handmade," "inspired by," and "fan art" are not legal defences. Peppa Pig's name, characters and artwork are protected by trademark and copyright, and eOne sues anonymous online sellers in batches with court orders that freeze your money before you even know you've been sued.

Who actually owns Peppa Pig

Peppa Pig was created by Astley Baker Davies in the UK and is owned and licensed by Entertainment One UK Ltd. Hasbro acquired eOne in December 2019, and although Hasbro later sold off eOne's film and television production studio (to Lionsgate in 2023), it kept Peppa Pig as a core part of its family-brands portfolio. That matters for you: it means Peppa Pig is backed by a multi-billion-dollar toy company with a dedicated brand-protection budget and a track record of suing.

The franchise is also growing, not fading. At Toy Fair and Licensing Expo in 2026 Hasbro announced new Peppa product lines, theme-park "Pig Family Travel Adventure" events in Florida and Texas, oral-care and potty-training licensing partnerships, and a Hasbro-powered family entertainment destination. A bigger, more valuable brand means more enforcement, not less.

The two kinds of IP you're up against

Most sellers think about "the logo" and stop there. There are actually two separate legal rights protecting Peppa, and you can infringe either one.

Trademark protects the brand identifiers used in commerce: the words "PEPPA PIG" and character names like George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig, plus the stylised logo. eOne holds federal registrations for these. Using them in your listing title, tags, or on a product to signal a connection to the brand is trademark infringement — even if you drew the art yourself.

Copyright protects the creative artwork: the specific look of Peppa, her family and friends, and the original character designs. Copyright attaches automatically and lasts for decades. Crucially, re-drawing the character by hand does not create a new copyright for you — it creates an unauthorised derivative work. A hand-stitched crochet Peppa, a hand-painted Peppa mug, or your own "cute pig in a red dress that everyone recognises as Peppa" are all derivative works of eOne's copyrighted character.

To list a Peppa product legally you would need a licence covering both rights. eOne does not licence individual Etsy sellers.

The myths that get shops suspended

If you've told yourself any of these, stop.

"It's handmade, so it's fine." Handmade describes how you made it, not whether you had the right to make it. There is no handmade exemption in trademark or copyright law. Hand-making a Peppa plush just means you manufactured the infringing item yourself.

"I wrote 'inspired by' / 'not affiliated with Peppa Pig.'" A disclaimer naming the brand can actually make things worse — you've now used the trademark and admitted you know it isn't yours. Disclaimers don't cure infringement.

"It's fan art, that's protected." Fan art has no special legal status. Selling fan art commercially is still creating and distributing a derivative work without permission.

"It's a digital file, not a physical product." Digital Peppa cake toppers, SVGs, party printables and clipart are if anything easier to prove and just as infringing. The file is a copy of protected artwork.

"Etsy would remove it if it were illegal." Etsy doesn't pre-screen listings. It acts on rights-holder complaints — and by the time eOne complains, you may already be named in a lawsuit. (See our guide on what to do when your Etsy shop is suspended.)

The lawsuits are real — and they freeze your money first

This is what makes Peppa different from a casual brand. eOne is a heavy filer of so-called "Schedule A" lawsuits in the U.S. federal courts, especially the Northern District of Illinois. In a Schedule A case, the rights holder sues dozens or hundreds of anonymous online sellers at once, listing them only as numbered "seller aliases" on a sealed attachment.

Public court records show eOne (Entertainment One UK Ltd.) bringing exactly these actions over Peppa Pig, including cases such as 1:20-cv-01710, 1:21-cv-02791 and 1:23-cv-01475, naming e-commerce sellers across Etsy, Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Walmart, Temu and similar platforms. eOne has also publicly cracked down on counterfeit Peppa Pig and PJ Masks merchandise and unlicensed events.

Here's why Schedule A suits are so dangerous for a small seller:

The court can freeze your funds before you're even notified. These cases routinely begin with a sealed Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that orders marketplaces and payment processors — Etsy, PayPal, Stripe — to freeze the money in accounts tied to the accused listings. Many sellers first learn they've been sued when their payouts stop.

On top of frozen funds, the potential damages are severe. U.S. trademark law allows statutory damages up to $2,000,000 per counterfeit mark for willful counterfeiting, and copyright law allows up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement. You don't need to have sold many units; the numbers are designed to be terrifying, and most defendants settle or default.

If you receive any notice of a Schedule A suit, an asset freeze, or a trademark violation notice, do not ignore it — get advice immediately, because deadlines are short.

What you CAN sell

The good news: the occasion and the aesthetic aren't owned by anyone. You can absolutely sell into the "toddler birthday" and "cute farm animal" markets — you just can't ride on Peppa specifically. Legitimate options include:

• Generic themes that describe the vibe, not the brand. "Pink pig birthday party," "farm animal first birthday," "muddy puddles splash party" used as genuine descriptions — paired with your own original pig artwork that does not copy Peppa's distinctive design.
• Truly original characters. Design your own pig character with a different face, body shape, clothing and colour palette. If a reasonable parent wouldn't mistake it for Peppa, you're in much safer territory.
• Personalised blanks. Add a child's name and age to plain party supplies, shirts or banners with non-infringing artwork. Personalisation is a real Etsy niche that doesn't require anyone's IP.
• Complementary, non-branded products. Party games, custom invitations with original art, decorations and favours in a colour scheme — without the character.

The test is simple: are people buying it because it's Peppa, or because it's a well-made pink-pig party product? If your sales depend on the brand name, you have a problem. If they depend on your craftsmanship and an original design, you're building something that can't be frozen overnight.

If you already have Peppa listings up

Don't wait for a complaint. Do a clean-up pass now:

1. Search your own shop for "Peppa," "George Pig," "Mummy Pig," "muddy puddles" and similar in titles, tags and descriptions.
2. Take down anything using the name, the character likeness, or the logo — including digital files, mockups and old listings you forgot about.
3. Strip brand names from tags and SEO. Using "Peppa Pig" purely as a search keyword on a product that isn't licensed is still trademark use.
4. Replace, don't just rename. Swapping the title while keeping the same artwork doesn't fix a copyright problem.
5. Keep records of what you removed and when, in case you ever need to show good faith.

If you want a repeatable process for spotting protected brands before you list, see our guide on how to check a trademark before selling on Etsy. The same caution applies to every big character brand — we've covered the identical pattern for Bluey, PAW Patrol and Disney characters.

The bottom line

Peppa Pig is protected by both trademark and copyright, owned by a deep-pocketed company (Hasbro/eOne) that sues anonymous online sellers in batches and freezes their funds with court orders before they can react. "Handmade," "inspired by," "fan art" and "it's just a digital file" are not defences. The smart move is to build party and kids' products around original designs and generic, descriptive themes — so your store grows on your own creativity instead of someone else's IP.

Want an early warning before a listing puts your shop at risk? ShieldMyShop scans your Etsy listings for trademark and copyright red flags so you can fix problems before a rights holder — or a Schedule A lawsuit — finds them. Start your free trial and protect your store today.