A Delhi-based techie who purchased the domain name ‘JioHotstar.com’ has claimed that Reliance Industries threatened legal action against him. The company reportedly refused the techie’s request to fund his higher education in exchange for handing over the domain.
In a recent update on October 24, the techie shared on the website that he was contacted by a Reliance executive. He further alleged that the executive, Ambujesh Yadav, not only rejected his request but also issued a legal threat.
“An Executive from Reliance reached out – Ambujesh Yadav Ji, AVP, Commercials. A request was made for £93,345, which represents the tuition fees for the EMBA program. The request has been denied,” the techie wrote.
The Delhi-based techie reportedly sought legal assistance, asserting that he hadn’t violated any trademark laws when purchasing the domain in 2023, prior to the merger.
“I don’t have the power to stand against Reliance. I don’t feel I infringed any trademark when I bought this in 2023, since JioHotstar was not even in existence at that time. Nobody had a trademark for JioHotstar when I bought it. I might automatically lose access to this domain in a few hours. If any legal professional could help, I would be grateful,” he wrote.
The techie had bought the domain in anticipation of Jio acquiring Disney+ Hotstar in the future.
In a message, the app developer and startup founder explained his reasoning: “I came across a news piece stating that Disney+ Hotstar was losing daily active users after losing the IPL streaming license, and Disney is considering selling or merging Hotstar with an Indian competitor.”
“This led me to hypothesize that, since Sony and Zee were pursuing their own merger, Viacom 18 (owned by Reliance) is the only major player with sufficient resources to acquire Disney+ Hotstar. This reminded me of when Jio acquired the music streaming service Saavn, they rebranded it to JioSaavn, and changed the domain from Saavn.com to JioSaavn.com. I thought, ‘If they acquire Hotstar, they might rename it to JioHotstar.com.’ I checked for the domain, and it was available. I was excited, as I felt that if this happened, I could fund my goal of studying at Cambridge.”
“My intention of buying this domain was simple: if this merger happens, I might be able to fulfill my dream of studying at Cambridge,” he added, signing off under the name ‘A Dreamer.’
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