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All is not well in the competitive startup market right now. Just halfway through the year, we have already witnessed some major struggle between startup competitors all over India. One such case was when dispute arose as Gurgaon-based InnerChef accused Bangalore-based FreshMenu of using their name in FreshMenu’s search ads without permission.

Follow the Twitter story here.

Co-Founder of Inner Chef, Rajesh Sawhney on Twitter

“It’s unfortunate that Freshmenu resorted to unethical advertising misusing and misrepresenting InnerChef in their Google campaign. We will protect our brand against any such cheap tricks by competition. We have already written to Google to ban them. It’s also unfortunate that they are focusing on such malicious advertising instead of improving their product and consumer experience.”

InnerChef even pulled in Google Adwords by sending them a mail detailing FreshMenu’s deceit.

Source

FreshMenu apologized publicly on twitter stating that the error was ‘unintended’ and took it down immediately. InnerChef accepted the apology while stating that they clearly don’t see how it could have been unintended.

Read more on the story here.

In conversation with Lawyered on Tuesday, Rajesh Sawhney said

True, but startup founders must protect their brands and fight against such malicious attempts https://t.co/xHHvczUhW5

— Rajesh Sawhney (@rajeshsawhney) June 20, 2016

This dispute followed last week’s tussle of a similar kind where we saw MobiKwik and Freecharge shame each other in their respective blogs. This was fueled by a Nielsen report ranking MobiKwik lower than its competitor in a ranking of digital wallet player.

Cases of such blatant copyright infringement are not uncommon anymore. A similar controversy took place last year between Stayzilla and OYO Rooms. Stayzilla gave the latter a hard time over their apparent use of Stayzilla’s name and trademark in their Adwords ad campaign.

Find the twitter story here.

The readers in the startup world sure enjoy these competitors taking jabs at each other on social media platforms like that. But, it also makes one wonder if these petty conflicts don’t compromise the sanctity of the same.

Moreover, even though some might find these petty quarrels amusing, they bring to light the urgent need of copyright and infringement policy formation for every startup. History bears witness that many times a seemingly small dispute might end up in disaster. So, it is absolutely important for startups to draft fool-proof policies with the help of adept lawyers to empower themselves.

We at Lawyered are promoting ‪#‎LegalEmpowerment‬ for ‪#‎Startups‬. The idea is to educate startups on the importance of a strong legal backup. This will also assist in the smooth functioning of the business in the later stages. We provide startup friendly lawyers who have expertise in all the matters related to the working of a startup in India.
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