Sylvanian Drama on TikTok Is Dealing With a Real-Life Lawsuit — All the Details

If you live in the U.S., chances are you hadn’t heard of the toy brand Sylvanian Families until you came across the TikTok account @sylvaniandrama. Created by Epoch Company, a Japanese toy giant, Sylvanian Families sells individual figures and themed sets of small animals, like rabbits, dogs, and cats, dressed as civilians.

So, TikToker Sylvanian Drama decided to use them to act out both funny and sometimes dramatic scenes geared toward adults. And people seem to love it!

Their following has grown dramatically, with over 1 million followers on Instagram and more than 2 million on TikTok. The creator has even landed paid partnerships, with the most recent being a campaign tied to Squid Game Season 3.

While the account had been known to drop new content regularly, it all came to a sudden halt in January 2025, and now we know why. Here’s what happened to Sylvanian Drama on TikTok and why they stopped posting content.

The creator behind the Sylvanian Drama TikTok account, identified as Thea von Engelbrechten, is being sued by Epoch, the Japanese toy company behind Sylvanian Families. According to Vulture, Epoch filed a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit against her on April 7, 2025, in a New York federal district court.

Apparently, Epoch isn’t thrilled about the account using its beloved critters, though, to be fair, the viral videos may have only helped boost the brand’s popularity. Many commenters on @sylvaniandrama have admitted they’d never even heard of the dolls before stumbling across the account.

Still, in an effort to “protect the dolls,” as Vulture puts it, Epoch filed suit not only to defend its Sylvanian Families brand, but also the Calico Critters line sold in the U.S. But this lawsuit seems to be about more than just brand protection. Epoch is also claiming that Sylvanian Drama has generated revenue from ads that feature “unauthorized, infringing works.”

They cite partnerships with Marc Jacobs and Kate Spade as examples of some of these partnerships. Epoch also argues the account has caused them “irreparable injury” to their reputation, and suggests viewers might mistakenly believe the company is creating, or at least endorsing, these paid campaigns. With the lawsuit still pending, it appears that Sylvanian Drama is unable to post new content until a settlement is reached or a court ruling is made.

Epoch isn’t just asking Engelbrechten to stop creating what they allege is copyright-infringing content (the paid partnerships?), but the company is also seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work, plus the profits Engelbrechten has made from Sylvanian Drama, according to court documents viewed by Vulture. They’re also requesting a trial by jury.

Fans of the channel are furious, to say the least. Many argue the account is doing free promo for Epoch’s brand. And honestly, it seems no different than any other content creator who buys a product and shares a review or plays with it, like beauty influencers testing makeup or those viral kid videos where toys are unboxed and played with on camera.

Needless to say, supporters have already started flooding Sylvanian Drama’s comments with messages of encouragement, and some are even pledging to donate if the creator decides to launch a GoFundMe or similar fundraiser.