Madhya Pradesh Elections: Digital Payments Company PhonePe Threatens Legal Action Against Congress For Logo Misuse

PhonePe, a popular digital payments company has raised objection against the use of its logo in the ongoing poster war between the BJP and Congress in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, warning the Congress party of legal action.

In Bhopal, on 23 June, the first posters targeting Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee President Kamal Nath surfaced, mocking him as "Corruption Nath" and also satirically branding him as "Wanted".

These posters, which carry QR codes, claim that Nath is embroiled in several scams in Madhya Pradesh.

In response, the Congress Party shared several photographs of QR code embossed posters targeting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan that surfaced across several walls in the city on the same day.

The posters, featuring a QR code and Chouhan's face, declared in Hindi: "Pay 50% commission to get your work done with PhonePe."

PhonePe through its Twitter handle responded to the posters on Monday (26 June), demanding the removal of its logo from them.

PhonePe stated, "We object to the unauthorised usage of our brand logo by any third party, whether political or non-political. We have no affiliation with any political campaign or party."

In another tweet, PhonePe stated, "The unauthorised use of PhonePe's intellectual property rights will result in legal action. We kindly request @INCMP to remove the posters and banners featuring our brand logo and colour."

The company further clarified that the PhonePe logo is a registered trademark and emphasised the need to respect their intellectual property rights.