Ogilvy, Vivo reach out of court settlement in row over copied ad idea

The row over alleged copying of a creative idea for mobile brand Vivo’s Aamir Khan ad is now resolved. Vivo and Ogilvy, which had filed the plagiarism suit in the Mumbai High Court, have settled the issue out of court. 

As reported earlier, Ogilvy India had filed a plagiarism suit against Vivo India and their agency of record Dentsu Impact, alleging that the TVC released by Vivo India for its V17 Pro mobile handset, called ‘Light Up the Night’, which features Aamir Khan, was very similar to a creative idea Ogilvy had presented during a pitch process in 2018. 

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Post this, the Mumbai High Court had ruled in Ogilvy India’s favour, stating that it had found striking similarities between the TVC released by Vivo India and a creative proposal that was shared by Ogilvy prior. The Court ruled that while Vivo India would be allowed to continue to air the TVC, it would have to furnish a deposit of Rs 1 crore or get a bank guarantee from a ‘reputed bank’. 

Following the latest development, Dentsu Impact, the agency behind the ‘Light Up the Night’ campaign, told Adgully, “As the issue is now resolved between Vivo and Ogilvy, we do not wish to provide any further comments. However, we stand by our earlier statement and reiterate that what we created is completely our original work, and we have always maintained this before the Hon’ble Court, as this is the fact. We are an agency of strong integrity, ethics and brilliant creative talent. We have absolutely no reason to resort to any kind of plagiarism, as we have no dearth of talent in our agency and have enough great work and awards that prove our worth.”

Sharing a statement, Kunal Jeswani, Chief Executive, Ogilvy India, said, "The leadership of both companies has reached an amicable agreement and the matter has been resolved."