Edtech Startup Unacademy ‘Reviewing’ Court Order Restraining It To Use PrepLadder In Plagiarism Row

In July 2020, Unacademy had acquired PrepLadder, a postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation startup for $50Mn expecting to strengthen Unacademy’s presence in the medical entrance examinations categories such as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical postgraduate courses.

Now, in a court hearing, the Bombay City Civil Court has granted “ex-parte injunction” to Sri Lankan medtech startup Medical Joyworks against Indian edtech startup Unacademy and its medical test-prep subsidiary, PrepLadder. A petition filed by Medical Joyworks alleged that PrepLadder has plagiarised Medical Joyworks’s Prognosis application and other property.

In the court hearing, Bombay City Civil Court restricted Unacademy to use PrepLadder app, website and any other content until “all proprietary information, know-how, and technology belonging to Medical Joyworks have been removed to the satisfaction of Medical Joyworks and an independent auditor”.

In a blog post, Medical Joyworks, CEO and cofounder D. Nayana Somaratna thanked the court for “acting swiftly and decisively regarding this matter”. She said, “We will continue our lawsuit in the hopes that a satisfactory resolution that honours our work, our customers, and the broader medical community will be achieved.”

“PrepLadder Private Limited and Sorting Hat Technologies Private Limited [Unacademy’s parent entity] are in receipt of a communication from the advocates of Medical Joyworks LLC stating that an ex-parte interim order in the Bombay City Civil Court has been passed against them. We are in the process of reviewing the relevant documents. We will be deciding on our next course of action (including protecting our rights and interests) in consultation with our legal advisors,” an Unacademy spokesperson told Inc42.

PrepLadder provides preparation materials for medical entrance exams such as NEET PG, AIIMS PG, NEET SS, and FMGE, to help medical aspirants prepare for postgraduate medical entrance exams with expert educators teaching over 85,000 active subscribers.

Unacademy has last raised $10 Mn from Zeta’s Bhavin Turakhia in the startup’s ongoing Series H at a valuation of $3.44 Bn