Delhi man who bought domain name ‘JioHotstar.com’ demands Rs 1 crore from Reliance to release it | Tech Tips
A Delhi-based app developer has demanded a staggering GBP 93,345 (over Rs 1 crore) from Reliance Industries Ltd. to release the domain name ‘JioHotstar.com’, which he claims he purchased in 2023. This comes after reports alleged that RIL’s JioCinema was merging into Disney+ Hotstar to create India’s largest OTT platform called JioHotstar.
The man, who is calls himself ‘A Dreamer’, posted a note on the JioHotstar.com webpage, stating that he aims to fulfil his dream of studying at UK’s prestigious Cambridge University with the amount. He claims he comes from a modest background and the money, which would be a “minor expense” for a company like Reliance, would be “life-changing” for him. Apparently, the tuition fee for the EMBA program at Cambridge is GBP 93,345, which is the demand.
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RIL rejects demand
An update posted on the website suggests that RIL has rejected the demand and the man fears losing the domain name. The man claims an executive named Ambujesh Yajav, who is the AVP, Commercials, reached out to him but denied the payout. He also adds that he bought the domain name when no trademark for JioHotstar existed, and has made an open request for legal help as the domain may get automatically pulled down.
The man claims he deduced in 2023 itself that since Hotstar was losing subscribers and looking to merge with an Indian bigwig, it would reach out to Viacom18 (owned by RIL) sine Sony and Zee were having their own merger. He hypothesised that the new entity would be called JioHotstar after Jio renamed music app Saavn to ‘JioSaavn’ after acquiring it.
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