All About Ads accuses Divya Bhaskar of plagiarism; media house denies charges

All About Ads has accused Divya Bhaskar of the Dainik Bhaskar Group for copyright infringement and plagiarism of its work and filed a civil suit against the media house.

 

A civil suit has been filed by Ankur Jain, director, All About Ads, before the Commercial Court at Mizapur, Ahmedabad and sought damages of Rs 9.5 crore along with seeking a restrain on Divya Bhaskar from publishing the contentious ad campaign.

 

According to a spokesperson from the Dainik Bhaskar Group, the group hasn't indulged in any plagiarism and has handed the matter to its legal team who will execute the next steps. Along with Dainik Bhaskar, All About Ads has also mentioned Eight Petals Creative Solution as defendants in the suit. Divya Bhaskar is a Gujarati newspaper.

 

All About Ads has also filed a criminal case before the magistrate court at Mizapur, Ahmedabad which was heard on 7 September according to a statement from the agency.

 

This comes after All About Ads created the project 'Desh Ke Hero' in April for the Government of India to felicitate corona warriors in which merchandise and certificates were to be presented to the awardees. This project was created in the form of literary script, dramatic, artistic and visual work presentation under title 'Desh Ke Hero'.  

 

The campaign was proposed to the GoI and was first published by All About Ads on 11 April 2020.  A statement from All About Ads gave the following details of the case:

 

Jain has known Amit Rathod (brand head, Divya Bhaskar) since 2013 as they have worked together commercially on several campaigns. Jain shared his work with Rathod in good faith for his feedback and review. 

 

According to Jain, Rathod not only breached the trust, but also infringed the copyright by sharing the campaign work with Sanjeev Chauhan, CEO, Divya Bhaskar. 

 

On 31 July 2020, Jain learnt that the defendants had reproduced his work and put their name on another campaign titled 'Gujarat Hero'. The defendants did not obtain any license, permission and/or consent from the plaintiffs and have used the said script for campaign solely for the self-serving interest. 

 

Jain said, “My team and I worked really hard for ‘Desh ke Hero’ campaign and it was wrong on the part of Divya Bhaskar to steal the concept and showcase ‘Gujarat Hero’ campaign as theirs.”