OnePlus is in trouble now. If you are an avid television viewer, you must have come across the new OnePlus 3T ad, in which the Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan himself claims OnePlus 3T to be the best smartphone of India currently. The advertisement has been broadcasting all across the country for the past few days. But, sadly, you may not be able to see the ad being aired again.
This comes in as the maker of the popular television reality show – Kaun Banega Crorepati, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) files a copyright infringement plea against the Chinese smartphone vendor – OnePlus. Wondering what does the broadcaster have to do with the Chinese smartphone manufacturer? Sony claims that OnePlus has copied their show’s format in the latest OnePlus 3T advertisement.
The new television ad campaign of OnePlus 3T is shot in a Kaun Banega Crorepati format, where the show host, Amitabh Bachchan is shown asking a question related to the best smartphone of the country to the contestant. Here comedian Rohan Joshi plays the role of the contestant. The ad campaign, as SPN claim has been copied from its Kaun Banega Crorepati show without its consent. Hence, the broadcaster calls it to a breach of intellectual property. However, OnePlus for now, denies to put forward any comment on the issue.
To bring it to your notice, SPN owns the rights of the show (Kaun Banega Crorepati), and hence, even before using the show format or any clip, every company is supposedly expected to take prior permission from Sony. Which apparently OnePlus hasn’t done it. That’s what Sony claims. In the advertisement, Amitabh Bachchan asks a question to the contestant which reads: Which is the best smartphone in India? The question is followed by four options – starting with OnePlus 3T, iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and lastly Google Pixel. Later, based on the audience poll, the ad campaign shows OnePlus 3T as the best smartphone of the country currently. The rating was allegedly based on the “current model smartphone ratings on Amazon India.”
Several media reports show that Sony has confirmed that they have filed a copyright infringement plea against OnePlus, and the Delhi High Court has already issued a stay on the advertisement. So, the ad for now, will not be aired. “On March 30, 2017, the Delhi High Court passed an order staying the OnePlus advertisement copying SPN’s, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) format. Sony Pictures Networks is recognised for its ability to create innovative content that has a vast mass appeal. But, as much as content-creation is at the core of our business, so also is the protection of our intellectual property,” Sony reveals to Gadgets 360.
Well, how OnePlus will take on the matter isn’t revealed yet. The Chinese smartphone maker denies putting forward any comment on the matter, neither on the filed copyright infringement for now.