Zoho Corporation has moved the Madras High Court seeking Rs 10 crore damages against Flexype Technologies Pvt Ltd over alleged defamatory LinkedIn posts. The Court raised concerns on jurisdiction and allowed Zoho to file additional documents to prove business impact in Chennai.
In a significant development, Zoho Corporation has approached the Madras High Court by filing a commercial suit seeking ₹10 crore in damages along with injunctive relief against Flexype Technologies Pvt Ltd and its co-founder Azeem Hussain. The case arises from allegedly defamatory social media posts related to Zoho’s accounting software, Zoho Books.
The matter was heard on Wednesday before Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, who raised concerns about whether the Court could exercise jurisdiction merely because the disputed content was accessible online. The Court indicated that just because content is available on the internet does not automatically mean that every court has jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Zoho argued that the social media posts had a wide reach and that the impact of the alleged defamatory statements was strongly felt in Chennai, where the company has substantial business operations. However, the Court pointed out that the plaint filed by Zoho did not clearly mention specific jurisdictional facts, particularly regarding how the alleged harm affected its business in Chennai.
During the hearing, Zoho’s counsel fairly admitted that the pleadings were not drafted as comprehensively as they could have been. Taking this into account, the Court allowed Zoho to file an additional affidavit to properly establish that a part of the cause of action had arisen within Chennai, which would justify the Court’s jurisdiction. The matter has now been listed for further hearing on April 17.
The dispute originates from a LinkedIn post made by Azeem Hussain, where he raised serious concerns about Zoho Books. He alleged that certain failed transactions were incorrectly recorded as successful payments, which led to financial discrepancies and operational difficulties for his company.
Zoho has strongly denied these allegations and stated that the claims made by Hussain are false and misleading. According to Zoho, the issue highlighted by Flexype was not due to any defect in Zoho Books itself, but rather because of incorrect payment status updates received from a third-party payment gateway tool.
Zoho further submitted that it had already clarified this issue during its internal investigation. Despite this clarification, the defendants allegedly continued to publish and spread the claims on social media platforms.
In its suit, Zoho has requested the Court to pass a decree directing the defendants to pay ₹10 crore as compensation for reputational damage. It has also sought a permanent injunction to ensure the removal of all allegedly defamatory content, including the LinkedIn post dated April 3, 2026, and to restrain the defendants from publishing any such statements in the future.
Additionally, Zoho has asked the Court to direct the defendants to issue a clarification on LinkedIn, clearly stating that the issue was not caused by Zoho and to tender an apology for the statements made.
Senior Advocate MS Krishnan appeared on behalf of Zoho Corporation in the matter.
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