In a strange turn of events during the ongoing IPL 2025, franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has dragged the cab-hailing service provider ‘Uber’ to the Delhi court over infringement and disparagement of their brand in an advertisement aired earlier during the season. Australia batting star and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener Travis Head, the protagonist in that promotional video, finds himself in a legal tussle amidst the ongoing season.

Advertisment

Head starred in Uber’s comic bike-taxi Moto service advertisement, built around the proposition of ‘Baddies of Bengaluru’. That ad showed Head breaking into a stadium and vandalising it with the words, ‘Royally Challenged Bengaluru’, only to sneak away by booking an Uber Moto service.

Watch Video -

Advertisment

It, however, didn’t sit well with Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, the parent body of the IPL franchise RCB, who accused Uber of attempting to tarnish RCB’s brand name, also of copyright violation for using the phrase, ‘Ee sala cup namde’, trademarked to Royal Challengers Sports.

“This is a targeted attempt to mock and dilute the identity of Royal Challengers Bengaluru,” Shwetasree Majumder, RCB’s counsel, said to Justice Saurabh Banerjee, per LiveLaw.

Also read | BCCI to hand central contracts to Abhishek, Shreyas; rookie players included | details inside

Advertisment

Meanwhile, she also argued that by doing so, the cab-service giants tried going against the law, particularly as a commercial partner for a competitor in SRH.

“You had millions of creative ways to do an advertisement. Did you have to do it using my trademark? And using someone who was earlier with me?” Majumder said while referencing how Travis Head was once part of the RCB franchise before moving to SunRisers Hyderabad. “Does parity, fair use defence lie in the mouth of Uber Moto?”

Uber replies to RCB

Uber didn’t take long before replying to the IPL franchise over this legal issue. Uber’s counsel argued that during this promotional video, Uber never referred to RCB in the first place; on those grounds, they have not attempted to harm the franchise’s reputation in any way. 

“If I am referring to RCB, and that is the script of the ad, then I am entitled to refer to them so long as I do it without disparaging them or encashing on their reputation, and there is no harm to their trademark,” Uber counsel replied to the RCB. “There is no direct use of the plaintiff’s registered trademarks, such as ‘Royal Challengers Bengaluru’. The reference to ‘Bengaluru vs Hyderabad’ is generic and does not amount to infringement.”

Uber’s representative also added that RCB should combat humour with humour and not a lawsuit, adding the reference to Bengaluru was due to the city’s reputation as one with horrible traffic congestion. 

“RCB should combat humour with humour, not with a lawsuit," said Uber's representative. 

(With inputs from agencies)