Gulte News
Badminton star and Olympic bronze medalist, PV Sindhu sends legal notices to 15 companies for unethically using her name and pictures in advertisements without her consent.
The firm that represents Sindhu, Baseline Ventures, confirmed that notices are being sent to Happydent, Pan Bahar, Eureka Forbes, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Vodafone Idea, MG Motor, UCO Bank, PNB, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Fino Payments Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Bank, Wipro Lighting brands.
It is reported that these above mentioned popular brands, after congratulating the badminton player on social media went on to use her name and pictures along with the company logo in their marketing posts without her consent.
Yashwanth Biyyala, Director of Talent and Partnerships at Baseline Ventures, said that the move is damaging for Sindhu and brands are misusing their powers. “But now the bigger problem is that International Olympic Committee (IOC) prevents Sindhu from endorsing any of her actual partners today”.
Brands sponsoring Sindhu are unable to put up congratulatory posts for her as they are hindered by rule 40 of the Olympic charter. Biyaala further said that sending notices to brands is just a start and will soon work on mechanisms to protect Sindhu’s individual rights. “We are definitely not going to leave it after just sending the notice,” he added.
Biyyala said that he was reached out by several other sports marketing firms saying that brands have done the same with their athletes. “They are asking if they can join us and take on all the brands,” he added.
