Lava MD Sunil Raina accuses JioHotstar of copying registered tagline

Lava International Managing Director Sunil Raina has accused JioHotstar, the streaming platform formed by the merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar, of copying its registered tagline, #ProudlyIndian. 

Raina, in a post on his LinkedIn, wrote that Lava created and registered the #ProudlyIndian tagline nearly five years ago to distinguish its brand from Chinese smartphone competitors. 

“Recently, I noticed JioHotstar using the same tagline. I’m surprised that a company of their size and reputation would lack originality in this way,” Raina wrote, expressing disappointment at what he perceives as a company of notable reputation and size would lack originality.

The accusation gained traction when Jitendra Kushwaha, former Lava executive and current Head of Marketing at Global India, backed Raina’s claims. In a comment on Raina’s post, Kushwaha stated, “#ProudlyIndian stands with Lava Mobile. Original taglines reflect identity and respecting IP rights is essential for fair and ethical branding.” 

Meanwhile, other supporters supported parallel sentiment online, with one LinkedIn commenter noting that it is unauthorised to use a tagline that is already registered and it raises serious questions about originality and respect for intellectual property.

However, some users had contradictory opinions, saying that the phrase ‘Proudly Indian’ is too generic to be exclusively owned. A LinkedIn commenter pointed out, “Lava has registered the tagline ‘Proudly Indian’ under Class 25, and Class 35 is still pending. Since broadcasting services like JioHotstar fall under Class 38, there doesn’t appear to be any trademark infringement in this case.”