Two months of one question. Then a lawyer, and $500,000.
On 1 September 2026 a legal notice arrived by email from Rise Legal, New Delhi, for Sony India Private Limited. Six pages, demanding ₹5 crore. This is what it asks for, what it leaves out, and where we stand.
- 01
“Immediately remove and permanently delete” the YouTube video, the X posts and this website.
- 02
“Tender an unconditional apology” within seven days.
- 03
Failing which, “legal actions both civil and criminal”, including damages “to the tune of Rs. 5 crores.”
Quoted from the notice. Their words, not ours.
A technical report.
The name of any test performed on the panel.
A photograph of the dent, crack or mark they say caused the failure.
Any answer to the question we have asked since 14 July: how did you decide?
Same as every letter since July.
No apology. We will not apologise for describing what happened to us.
Nothing removed. Every statement of fact here is drawn from Sony's own emails, its service records and photographs taken in our home.
The consumer complaint is filed and pending. That is the forum where both sides are tested on affidavit, and we invite Sony to have the panel examined by a laboratory there.
The offer stands. Show us the evidence and we publish it here, unedited, within 72 hours.
What we want has not changed since July. Proof of the damage, or repair under warranty. Nothing else. That is the only resolution we have ever asked Sony for, in every email since 14 July and in the consumer complaint.
We asked people at Sony one thing: whether warranty claims are decided from WhatsApp photographs, and how. We asked for no confidential or commercial information, and we have received none.
A $500,000 (₹5 crore) notice, for asking for proof.
Recorded the day after the notice arrived. Nothing comes down. No apology. The complaint stays filed. And the question Sony has not answered since 14 July stays exactly where it was: how did you decide?
Plays muted. Tap the video for sound.
The notice is published below, all six pages. Our reply to it is not. A legal notice is a demand, not an order. Nothing on this site changes because of it.
Six pages. Read them yourself.
This is the notice as it arrived on 1 September 2026. Nothing has been added or reworded. The black bars cover our home address, phone numbers, email address, the set’s serial number and the job card number. Every word of what Sony’s lawyers wrote is left exactly as it was.
The video they ask us to delete is the one on the home page. It is still there.
On a phone, swipe a page sideways to read it.
Every word of it, in plain text.
The six pages above, set out as text so they can be read on any device, searched, and read aloud by a screen reader. The images are the authoritative version. Personal details are redacted here exactly as they are blacked out on the images, and nothing else is changed.
BY SPEED POST / E-MAIL
01.09.2026
To,
Mr. Lakshmi Kant Tiwari
[home address redacted]
Email: [redacted]
Phone No: [redacted]
SUB: LEGAL NOTICE CALLING UPON YOU TO IMMEDIATELY CEASE AND DESIST FROM PUBLISHING AND CIRCULATING FALSE, MISLEADING AND DEFAMATORY CONTENT AGAINST SONY INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED AND FROM UNAUTHORISED USE OF THE “SONY BRAVIA” TRADEMARK
Dear Sir,
Under the instructions and on behalf of M/s. Sony India Private Limited, having its registered office at A-18, Mohan Co-operative Industrial Estate, Mathura Road, New Delhi, Delhi, India- 110044 (“Our Client”), we hereby serve upon you the present Legal Notice as under:
01Our Client is a globally renowned company and has been an industry leader for decades. Our Client began selling its products in India in the year 1994 and has established itself as a household name and a leading brand across a diverse range of product categories, including televisions, digital imaging devices, personal audio systems, home entertainment products, gaming consoles, car audio systems and professional solutions.
02Our Client is widely recognised for its innovation, quality and reliability and has consistently maintained high standards in the manufacture, sale and after-sales services of its products. Customer satisfaction remains at the core of Our Client’s business philosophy, and it strives to deliver an exceptional consumer experience through superior products, cutting-edge technology and dedicated customer support services. Thus, Our Client has, over the years, gained an eminent reputation by offering world-class products and after-sales services to its customers.
03The present Legal Notice is being issued in relation to the video and/or other content(s) published or uploaded by you on various online platforms, including but limited to YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and the website “SonyBravia.online” (“public platforms”). The said content published or uploaded on public platforms contains statements and/or representations concerning Our Client and its product(s) - which are false, misleading and derogatory in nature and has adversely affected the reputation and goodwill of Our Client.
04It is borne out from the records that you had purchased a Sony BRAVIA Television, Model K-55XR70, bearing Serial No. [redacted] (“said television”), on 20.09.2024. Thereafter, on 03.07.2026, Our Client received a service request at its Authorised Service Centre, M/s Mangalmurti Enterprises, vide Job Card No. [redacted] dated 03.07.2026, wherein the reported symptom was recorded as “Panel Damage”.
05Pursuant to the aforesaid service request, [name redacted], who as per the available records with our Client is a Diploma Holder in Electronics & PC Maintenance from [institute redacted], Mumbai, and is currently serving as Service Engineer at M/s Mangalmurti Enterprises, visited your premises and inspected the said television in your presence. Upon inspection and subsequent deliberations, it was found that the display panel of the said television had suffered damage due to an external cause and the same was communicated to you by Our Client vide emails dated 07.07.2026, 14.07.2026 and 29.07.2026. Since, external damages do not fall under the terms of warranty, Our Client offered to carry out the necessary repairs on a chargeable basis.
06In reply to the said email dated 29.07.2026, you sent an email dated 03.08.2026 inter alia disputing and denying to carry out necessary repairs on a chargeable basis on the pretext that no technical findings related to external damage has been shared with you. Along with the said email date 03.08.2026, you had also attached the YouTube link: [link omitted from this transcript] as well as X Link: [link omitted from this transcript].
07Upon opening the above-mentioned YouTube Link, Our Client was shocked to learn that instead of co-operating with the Service Engineer, you deliberately harassed and intimidated him. It can be clearly seen from the YouTube video that the recording of the service engineer was made without his consent. Moreover, the video contains various misleading and derogatory statements which are capable of adversely affecting the reputation and goodwill painstakingly built by Our Client over several decades.
08Further, you have knowingly and with the mala fide intent to malign the reputation, and to defame Our Client, published a post on your X (formerly twitter) account wherein you falsely alleged that Our Client refused to honour its warranty obligations. Moreover, you have also published defamatory statement(s) such as “Never buy a Sony BRAVIA” and “Sony sold us a warranty. Then refused it” on your X account. The said statements are false, misleading, derogatory, and defamatory on the face of it which has adversely affected the goodwill and reputation of Our Client.
09In addition to the aforesaid, Our Client was shocked and surprised to learn from the YouTube Video link that you have created and/or are operating a website under the name “SonyBravia.online”, wherein the trademark “SONY BRAVIA” is being used and displayed. Insofar as creating and/or operating the website “SonyBravia.online” is concerned, it is stated that since, Our Client is the owner of the registered trademark, SONY and BRAVIA, Our Client reserves its right to take appropriate legal action independently for seeking injunction from operating the said website. Be that as it may, even the said website also contained various false, misleading, derogatory, and defamatory contents such as “SorryBravia”, “No dent, no crack, no money back”, “3 years promised, 22 months delivered”, “they say damage, they show nothing” etc. The contents published on the said website are ex facie defamatory in nature which has maligned the goodwill and reputation of Our Client.
10Needless to mention here that you have done the above-mentioned illegal acts with the sole intention to exert undue pressure on Our Client so that the said TV be replaced free of cost and/or to extract an unjustified monetary benefit. The publication of such content through platforms having wide public reach is particularly serious, as such content is capable of being viewed, shared, reproduced and further circulated by an indeterminate number of persons, thereby causing substantial and irreparable injury to the reputation and goodwill of Our Client.
11Please note that Our Client cares for its customers and is known for its customer-centric approach, however, the method and approach opted by you is against the law of the land and unacceptable to Our Client under any circumstances inasmuch as you have prima facie committed an offence under section 356(2) of the BNS, 2023 as well as you have also exposed yourself for civil wrongs by causing harm to the image and reputation of Our Client by publishing defamatory and derogatory statements on various Social Media Platforms.
12In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, you are hereby called upon to immediately remove and permanently delete the aforesaid videos from YouTube, publication on X account, publication on the website “SonyBravia.online” and any other identical or substantially similar content published or uploaded by you on any other Social Media Platform(s). Further, you are also called upon to forthwith Cease and Desist from publishing any such defamatory statements on any Social Media Platform(s) in the future as well.
13In addition to the aforesaid, you are also called upon to tender an unconditional apology to Our Client within 7 days from the date of the receipt of the present Legal Notice, failing which, we have definite instruction to take appropriate legal actions both civil and criminal, including but not limited to monetary damages against you atleast to the tune of Rs. 5 crores. Needless to mention that any such proceedings shall be at entirely your risk, cost and consequence.
A copy of the instant Legal Notice has been retained in our office for further legal action, if required.
For Rise Legal
Aquib Ali
Partner
One further redaction, which is ours and not Sony's. The notice names the service engineer who came to our home and names the institute he trained at. Neither appears below. He came to do his job and this was never about him. What Sony says about his qualification is kept, because that is the answer to a question we had been asking since July, and it arrived in a lawyer's letter rather than in a reply to us.