The inside story of the Khatabook-Dukaan mess
The slugfest over plagiarism and IP theft charges throws up a far more important question: should an investor sacrifice ethics at the altar of FOMO?
Why read this story?
Editor's note: The public details of the case are as follows. In mid-August 2020, a company that goes by the name Growthpond Technologies alleged that its app had been plagiarized by another company called Kyte Technologies Inc., which popularly goes by the name Khatabook. The app in question is called Dukaan, which translates to "shop" in English. The issue came to light when Khatabook launched its own app called Dukaan by Khatabook, and the similarities with Growthpond’s app didn’t just stop at the name. The logo used by Khatabook was eerily similar, and so were the colour scheme and user interface. If you removed the name Dukaan by Khatabook, it would be difficult for anyone to tell the two apps apart. Not surprisingly, Growthpond Technologies was pissed. The company said that it would take Khatabook to task. Soon enough it came through on the threat by filing a complaint of plagiarism, and a civil suit for damages in Gurugram, Haryana. In response to this suit, Khatabook approached the Karnataka High Court with a writ petition alleging that Growthpond Technologies had stolen its …
More in Internet
You may also like
Eternal’s leap of faith: exit Goyal, enter Dhindsa
Deepinder Goyal’s handing of Eternal’s reins to Albinder Dhindsa raises uncomfortable questions about timing, risk and whether shareholders are being asked to trust yet another reassuring narrative.
BellaVita’s success has opened the floodgates to cheap fragrance brands
In less than five years, BellaVita has become one of the biggest fragrance brands in India. This has given several others confidence to follow the same playbook and sell cheap perfumes disguised as luxury.
Why SoftBank has shunned India
For one of the world’s largest and shrewdest investors to entirely skip putting money in the country is a sign of how quickly the nature of the Indian startup ecosystem has changed.