Sparsh Agarwal, co-founder of Dorje Teas, revealed that Sony Pictures Networks India sent them a copyright violation notice for using clips from their own pitch in YouTube and Meta ads.
SharkTank India, a reality TV show, is extremely popular in the start-up world. As per IMDb, “Aspiring entrepreneurs from India pitch their business models to a panel of investors and persuade them to invest money in their idea” in SharkTank India. However, now the reality TV show is in the news for sending legal notices to start-ups.
Taking to LinkedIn, Sparsh Agarwal, the co-founder of Dorje Teas who had gone to SharkTank last year, shared, “We woke up to a number of legal claims made by the Sony Pictures Networks India team, sending us a copyright violation notice for using clips from our own pitch in YouTube and Meta ads.”
Dorje Teas secured investments from Anupam Mittal, Peyush Bansal, and Vineeta Singh, amounting to Rs 30 lakh in exchange for a 15 per cent equity stake, placing the company's valuation at Rs 2 crore.
As per Agarwal, there are other start-ups as well that received those notices. He posted, “We’re not the only ones—they've cracked down on each and every startup that appeared on Shark Tank.”
“While I understand the copyright laws supporting it, I don’t understand why they would do this. After all, Dorje Teas and other companies like Skippi, Assembly, Perfora, Hoovu Fresh, Beyond Snack, Wakao Foods, Nasher Miles, and so many others are spending lakhs every month to boost Shark Tank content, thereby giving free publicity and brand recall to the Shark Tank India brand,” asked Teas.
While mentioning that this entire concept goes against the ethos of the start-up ecosystem, Agarwal said that it's a bad business decision.
Similarly, in a selfie video, Agarwal said that Shark Tank Season 3 has been all about supporting the Indian start-up ecosystem in the country. However, how will we build a new India this way? he asked.
As per Your Story, around eighteen start-ups are affected because of this. This has led to the Meta ad accounts of several start-ups being disabled, which in turn is affecting the businesses of start-ups. However, under the Indian copyright law, the rights of the producer (Sony) are protected, and the producer also has exclusive rights over the content.