10 Shark Tank Products That Led to Massive Lawsuits

#10: Scholly

Chris Gray impressed the Sharks right out of the gate, both with his product and with his personal achievements. Scholly is an app that makes searching for college scholarships much easier, and the Sharks loved the idea. Eight years after his appearance on the show, Gray sold the app to student loan provider Sallie Mae and became a vice president at the company. But it wasn’t smooth sailing from there. Gray says Sallie Mae started selling all the data it was collecting on the app’s users, many of whom are minors, contrary to what it had promised him. When he pushed back, they fired him, so he sued them for wrongful termination and aired out their dirty laundry for all to see.

#9: Inirv

Akshita Iyer and Ranjith Babu weren’t able to make a deal for their smart stove knob, which was designed to provide safety and peace of mind for busy home chefs. Considering what happened after their appearance on the show, the Sharks were probably glad none of them took the plunge. In 2018, the same year their episode aired, Inirv was sued by the prototyping company they had used to create their knobs. Enventys Partners alleged that Iyer and Babu owed them more than $80,000 in unpaid bills. Inirv countersued, claiming that the prototypes didn’t work properly and had lost them a deal with the Sharks, though it didn’t seem that way in the episode. Inirv is still around and has rebranded as Ome.

#8: Wine & Design

If you watched this Season 8 episode, you probably got the impression that this business was co-founded by Harriet Mills and her husband. Mills mentions getting the idea while on a trip with a girlfriend, but she leaves out a major detail. She actually co-founded Wine & Design with that friend, Emily Preiss. They were successful out of the gate, but after a few years, the friends had a falling out. Mills allegedly pressured Preiss to enter a treatment facility for substance use disorder. Preiss left the program early, and when she returned home, she discovered she’d lost access to the business’s accounts. The two tried negotiations and restructuring, but Preiss eventually accused Mills of mismanaging the business and sued her. Ultimately, the two parted ways.

#7: ezpz

The Sharks didn’t bite on this table mat for kids, but not because the product wasn’t a good one. During the back-and-forth, more than one of them brought up questions about ezpz’s patents, and they were right to be concerned. Six months after the episode aired, a company called Luv n’ Care sued Lindsey Laurain, arguing that her patents were invalid. Laurain countersued for patent infringement. Luv n’ Care initially won its case, though its victory was vacated on appeal. But that’s not the juicy part. Over the years of litigation, the courts found that ezpz’s patent application contained “false or misleading information” about a competitor’s product. Turns out ezpz might be sleazy.

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#6: Kodiak Cakes

You’ve probably seen these products in the grocery store – the company is still alive and well despite its legal troubles. The founders appeared on “Shark Tank” in 2014 but declined the Sharks’ offers. Five years later, the brand was the subject of a class-action lawsuit that accused it of a whole slew of misleading marketing tactics, including exaggerating the amount of protein in the products. Those claims were eventually dismissed or settled out of court, but Kodiak was sued again in 2020 and 2021 over the same claims about the protein in its flapjack and waffle mix. All these lawsuits didn’t stop Zac Efron from signing with the brand in 2024.

#5: Copa di Vino

Single-serve wine maker James Martin tried his luck in the Shark Tank twice but left without a deal both times. Soon after, an investor named John Babikian swooped in and helped Martin fund a 400-acre vineyard. Then, wildly, the feds went after Babikian for a pump-and-dump stock scheme. Martin sued Babikian, alleging he was using the winery to launder money and had threatened Martin’s family. Martin won, but in the meantime had become the target of another lawsuit. Director Francis Ford Coppola, who has his own wine brand, sued Copa di Vino for trademark infringement. He claimed Copa’s labels were too similar to his own, and that Martin was trying to profit from Coppola’s brand recognition. That case was settled out of court.

#4: Marz Sprays

James Martin wasn’t the only “Shark Tank” entrepreneur to be sued by a celebrity. In 2014, Jennifer Love Hewitt sued Marz Sprays over allegedly using her image to promote one of their sprays without her permission. Hewitt had apparently attended a giveaway of Slim Spray and had been photographed with the product, but never agreed to let the company use the pics for marketing. The suit was resolved out of court, but that’s not the end. The Marzes then sued Getty Images and the PR firm that arranged the giveaway, claiming that they’d been hustled. They said they were told they had the rights to use the photographs, and that Hewitt’s lawsuit had destroyed their business. They weren’t exaggerating – Marz Sprays shut down in 2023.

#3: Breathometer

The only thing worse for a company than getting sued by a rich celebrity might be getting sued by the federal government. Breathometer was a hit on “Shark Tank,” but the Federal Trade Commission was not as impressed as the Sharks. In 2017, the FTC filed a complaint against the company and founder Charles Michael Yim alleging that the product just didn’t work – the blood alcohol levels it gave out weren’t accurate. Even worse, the complaint said that Yim knew the product was faulty but kept selling it anyway. At the time, the company had amassed over $5 million in sales, but Yim was forced to provide a refund to every customer that requested one. There goes all the Sharks’ money.

#2: Doorbot aka Ring

Although founder Jamie Siminoff didn’t reach a deal with the Sharks, his video doorbell has become one of the most successful products ever featured on the show. It’s also become one of the most controversial. First, Ring was sued by ADT in 2017 for allegedly using proprietary tech that actually belonged to ADT. In 2018, an investor named Russell Stephens sued Ring for $300 million. Stephens had offered to invest after Siminoff’s failed “Shark Tank” appearance, and claimed Siminoff had cheated him out of his stock options after he had to resign from Ring’s board of directors due to a health problem. And in 2023, the FTC filed a complaint against Ring for “egregious” privacy violations – an issue that has continued to plague the company.

#1: Bubba’s Q Boneless Baby Back Ribs

Al Baker won over Daymond John with his boneless ribs, but things went downhill fast. John connected the Bakers with former “Shark Tank” contestant Nate Holzapfel, who essentially became their business manager. Reportedly, Holzapfel refused to share financial info and wasn’t paying them their profits. Nothing has been proven, but Holzapfel is currently in prison for unrelated fraud and sexual battery charges. The Bakers refused to make deals until they got paid, leading the product manufacturer to sue them and win. They blamed John and slammed him online; John ultimately got a restraining order. John seems to have a track record of these shady dealings. Alan Kaufman, who pitched Nubrella on Season 1, sued him for failing to honor his $100,000 investment promise.

Which of these stories do you think is the wildest? Let us know in the comments.