Agarwal recently shared a LinkedIn post revealing that the company was served a legal notice by Shark Tank India for using clips from its pitch.
Why Sony has sent a legal notice to the startup
According to Agarwal’s post, Sony has served the startup with a notice over copyright violation for using clips from Shark Tank India on YouTube and Meta ads.
He also noted that Dorje Teas is one of many firms to have been issued the notice by Sony Pictures.
“We’re not the only ones — they’ve cracked down on each and every startup that appeared on Shark Tank,” he noted.
Agarwal said: “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 lacs every month to boost Shark Tank content, thereby giving free publicity and brand recall to the Shark Tank India brand.”
Some executive/legal persons within Sony also dubbed it as a bad business decision. Agarwal also mentioned that it “goes against the entire ethos of promoting small startups.”
The post also included a selfie video of Agarwal where he was seen asking: “Also Shark Tank Season 3 has been all about supporting a startup ecosystem in India and building a new India. Magar iss tarah kese banega naya India (How will we build a ‘new India’ this way?).”