Shark Tank India is embroiled in controversy as Pathik Patel, founder of Fit & Flex, accuses the show of unjustly targeting his brand for trademark violations. Patel claims Sony Entertainment Television blocked his social media accounts and suspended ads without warning, just weeks after his appearance on the show. Despite reaching out to Sony and Meta for help, he received no response, and his business suffered significant losses. Patel’s experience has sparked a broader outcry, with over 70 other startups facing similar issues, turning what was supposed to be a dream opportunity into a legal and financial nightmare.
Sony Entertainment Television’s Shark Tank India premiered in 2021 as a platform for businesses to reach a larger audience. The program has had its share of controversy throughout three seasons, and the concerns appear to have persisted even after the most recent season. Recently, the nutritious food firm Fit & Flex founder accused the channel of unfairly targeting them for trademark breaches. According to several media sources, Pathik Patel has also issued a legal letter to the station regarding suspending their ad account.
Pathik Patel commented on LinkedIn, “Feels really sad to see this, but wasn’t left with a choice either! It has been 50 days of zero D2C business and all we get to hear is “We won’t do anything”. We recently aired Shark Tank S3- on the 15th of March which was a dream come true, but what followed has turned into a nightmare. Despite our joy at being featured on national television, our happiness was short-lived.”
The post continued, “Sony Entertainment Television has unjustly targeted us for trademark violations without any prior notice. They have struck our social media posts containing clips from the shark tank episode and have gone ahead and blocked our Ad account, unpublished our Facebook page, and disabled the collaboration feature on our brand’s account as well as on my account. No prior notice or warning was sent to us. Ideally, we have aired the episode, which we could use for marketing purposes for 3 months from the said date (as per their guidelines), but 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.”
Further discussing channel violations, Pathik Patel stated, “We have been writing to both Meta and Sony daily since, to help us with a solution, but haven’t received any resolution. We don’t want to use any clips for marketing and just want our original accounts back. All we want is someone from the SONY Team to talk to us and help solve this amicably but sadly not a single party (Sony Legal or Shark Tank) chose to reply. Not only me but more than 70 brands are facing these challenges. While we were shown a bigger picture of getting up to 5X & 7X of growth, the Shark Tank experience has got us a huge loss in business and a downfall of almost 10-12X.”
“As the founder of Fit and Flex, I’ve poured my heart and soul into building our brand from the ground up, and this is extremely disheartening to see that massive media houses are harassing startup brands,” the Shark Tank India pitcher added.
While Patel did not make a deal on the show, he had previously described his experience as intimidating. During his time on the show, Deepinder Goyal and Anupam Mittal questioned him harshly. He was furious that only a 15-minute clip was included on the broadcast and said on LinkedIn, “But as they say….partial knowledge is always more dangerous than NO knowledge! A 15-minute edited video can only showcase that much and hence will use my platforms to debunk some popular myths! As an athlete and health-conscious foodie myself I have always been very sincere and true to my brand ethos and will not let a 15-minute clip raise questions about 5 years of my and my team’s hard work.”
He had also written, “As I continue on this entrepreneurial path, I carry with me the lessons learned from my Shark Tank India experience. It’s not just about seeking investment; it’s about seizing opportunities, embracing challenges, and never losing sight of the passion that fuels our journey.”
Last year, GreatGameIndia reported that Shark Tank India’s Anupam Mittal criticized Google and raised concerns over its “illegal” billing system, stating that the company is violating Indian laws and disregarding orders from CCI India by mandating payments for Indian developers.
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