Shark Tank: Startups accuse Sony & Meta of withholding ad, social media accounts
A bunch of startups, whose founders participated in Sony’s popular reality show “Shark Tank India” that features entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of investors or sharks seeking investment, are currently facing the toughest phase of their entrepreneurial journey. They have been locked out of their advertisement accounts and social media pages for months allegedly by Meta Inc at the behest of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) due to the alleged violation of copyrights and intellectual property rights by uploading video clips of their Shark Tank episodes on social media pages for marketing purposes.
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The collaboration feature of their Instagram accounts has also been disabled, making them unable to forge any influencer and brand collaborations and that has affected their accounts reach, startups allege. Even individual accounts of some founders have been restricted.
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Pathik Patel, Founder of an Ahmedabad-based FMCG startup Fit and Flex, who was part of Shark Tank Season 3 aired on March 15, told e4m, “Although featuring on national television was like a dream come true, what followed was a nightmare. Sony has targeted us for trademark violations without any prior notice. They have struck down our social media posts containing clips from the Shark Tank episode and have gone ahead and blocked our Ad account, suspended our Facebook page, disabled the collaboration feature on our brand’s account as well as on my personal account.” “As per the programme’s guidelines, I could use Shark Tank content for marketing purposes for 3 months from the date of the telecast of the episode, which is March 15. However, our content was pulled down within 25 days, after which we ceased to run all Shark Tank clips on organic as well as paid posts,” alleges Patel. He claimed Sony revised their guidelines in April and since then his accounts have been restricted, leading to a loss of business. Another entrepreneur Roshaan Mishra, Season 2 participant and founder of Mumbai-based BrandsDaddy, which manufactures fire extinguishers for cars for over 10 years, alleged, “My episode was aired on Shark Tank almost a year ago. My social media posts were also of that time. Suddenly, I found my accounts withheld. Over 500 startups participated in the three seasons. Many of them have landed in this mess now.” Notably, most D2C startups advertise their products through social media and influencer marketing for which collaboration feature is crucial. Most of their sales also come through social media channels. Startups claimed SPNI neither shared any guidelines before nor asked them to remove the posts. They were allegedly not allowed to appeal against Meta’s restrictions. “We have been writing to both Meta Inc and Sony almost daily but haven’t received any resolution yet. Hence, legal notices have been served to Sony and Meta Inc.,” the founders said. One of the legal notices issued on May 30 asks Sony to retract its complaint to Meta, and urges Meta to restore their accounts within a week of receiving the notice and pay Rs 25,000 for legal costs or else face criminal and civil suits. Sony’s Response In response to e4m’s detailed and pointed questionnaire, SPNI said, “Shark Tank India has emerged as a pivotal platform, igniting the dreams of aspiring entrepreneurs nationwide. However, because of its growing popularity, some participants are using the show’s content and branding without permission for their own commercial ventures, clearly violating SPNI’s intellectual property rights (IPR) and copyright laws.” “In response, we have taken decisive action to curb such infringements, implementing rigorous checks to safeguard the IPR while also recognizing and respecting the contestants' achievements,” SPNI stated. Meta’s response was awaited till the time of writing this story. For more updates, be socially connected with us on
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Tags : Meta Sony Shark Tank