IPL 2026: SRH’s owners seek INR 1 crore in damage from CSK over copyright breach in viral jersey launch video

Marquee IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has found itself in legal trouble for using authorised dialogues and background tracks from the Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer and Jailer 2, in their now-edited viral jersey launch video. On Friday (Mar 13), the Sun TV Network Limited, the owners of SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), which produced the movie, filed a copyright infringement suit against CSK, dragging them into the Madras High Court while seeking INR one crore in damages.

On March 1, CSK’s social media team uploaded a promotional video as they launched their new jersey for the upcoming season, using audio and background scores from Rajnikanth’s movies. Hours after it went viral on the internet, CSK took it down and re-released it a day later with audio modifications.

Here is the edited version of the video -

Taking note of this, the film production house took legal action against CSK. An Indian Express report claims the findings of the complaint filed against Chennai Super Kings, which reads, “The Plaintiff submits that the Defendants (CSK) officially unveiled the new jersey for the IPL 2026 on 01.03.2026, offering fans a glimpse of the fresh design through a promotional video shared on social media pages, namely Instagram, X, YouTube and Facebook. The said video, to the surprise of the applicant, prominently used the audio tracks and dialogues from Plaintiff’s films Jailer, Jailer 2 and Coolie and further incorporated copyrighted audio elements at multiple junctures, including scenes depicting the arrival of MS Dhoni at the 1st Defendants' camp.”

Trouble mounts

The Sun TV Network also informed the court that CSK used their copyrighted background score and dialogues to help sell their team jerseys for INR 2399. They further argued that the promotional video ‘mischievously’ used the famous clips to increase sales of their IPL 2026 match kits and other fan gear. Sun TV also pointed out how CSK, knowing that music from Rajnikanth films and composer Anirudh has a massive influence on social media, mainly in Chennai, used that to their advantage to attract more buyers for their jerseys.

The Plaintiffs have requested the court to legally block CSK from using their copyrighted material. The Sun TV has also demanded that CSK reveal exactly how much money they made while using the unauthorised audio. Although CSK has used similar soundtracks in the past, they have stopped using them for all new content since this legal dispute began.

Even though the issue surrounds the CSK franchise, other teams’ social media handles are also keeping a close tab on the developments. While all franchises have been using movie soundtracks for their online content, this is the first instance where an IPL team has been dragged to court for copyright infringement by a production house.