Sabharwal & Finkel, which is representing NDTV, has filed a defamation suit against WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrel for making false, defamatory and malicious statements about the law firm

The war over the quality of television audience measurement (TAM) ratings is getting nastier by the day. Ever since New Delhi Television (NDTV) filed a $1.3 billion lawsuit against TAM and several companies of the WPP Group Plc at the New York Supreme Court over the quality of their ratings, the pitch has escalated. Now, Sabharwal & Finkel (S&F) LLC, the law firm representing NDTV has filed a defamation suit against Sir Martin Sorrel, the chief of WPP, for allegedly making false, defamatory and malicious statements relating with S&F in context with the NDTV suit.

Here is the complaint filed by S&F at the Supreme Court of the State of New York...

Last week, the mighty WPP group hit back hard at NDTV for its $1.3billion lawsuit against incorrect TAM ratings, with chairman Sir Martin Sorrel leading from the front. The crux of NDTV’s lawsuit is the allegation that TAM ratings (controlled by WPP), which are the main basis of deciding advertising spend in India today, can be influenced for a price.

In an interview with the Mint on 25th August, Sir Martin savaged NDTV, saying a “two-lawyer firm, ‘which’ specializes in restaurant law” had called WPP and “asked if we would discuss a settlement. I said there is no question of settlement. This whole thing is mischievous, designed to elicit some financial response from us”. He also told Mint that “they (NDTV) are issuing illegitimate proceedings in the US with lawyers working on a contingency basis, where they do not get a fee, but a percentage of the settlement. That is why they rang up”. Expectedly (to us) Sir Martin attacked NDTV’s financial performance by pointing out that its “market cap has fallen from $800 million to $60 million”. He ended by saying that NDTV’s PR campaign had hurt the reputation of WPP and TAM and that is why WPP was considering a defamation suit.

Until the hearings begin at the New York court, it will be an interesting battle of strategy and maybe even dirty tricks—after all, there is a lot riding on the jurisdiction issue and while courts are not supposed to take cognizance of media reports, everybody knows that it does play a significant role.