IPL Team Royal Challengers Bangalore Sues Uber: Here's Why

Indian Premier League is currently going on, and cricket fans from across the country are supporting their teams. Matches are currently underway, and the friendly rivalry between teams and fans is something we witness almost every year. We even come across ad campaigns where we see teams challenging each other.

Recently, IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore sued Uber over alleged trademark misuse in one of their recent ads. The owner of the IPL team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd, moved to the Delhi High Court against Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd. The owners alleged that Uber had misused one of its popular slogans in an advertisement promoting bike taxis without authorization.

The video in question was released by Uber India on their YouTube channel under the name “Baddies in Bengaluru.” In this video, we see cricketer Travis Head, a former RCB player who is currently with the IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad, sneak into the cricket stadium and spray-paint “Royally challenge” over a Bengaluru vs Hyderabad poster.

The video is shot in such a way that it looks unscripted. As soon as Travis Head’s character spray-paints the poster, security guards arrive at the spot and run after him. By this time, Travis’s character escapes and gets on the bike taxi he had booked earlier. The video ends with Travis Head calling himself “Hyderbaddies” as a pun.

The counsel argued in court that the advertisement is an act of disparagement and trademark misuse, as the cricketer in the video deliberately distorted the official name of the team. However, if you look at the video carefully, you’ll see Travis Head painting over a sticker that simply says Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

We do not see the full names of the teams anywhere in this video. However, RCB’s legal team argued that the allusions to their brand are unmistakable. They said this was an attempt to mock and dilute the identity of Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

In response, Uber’s counsel said that RCB has severely and massively underestimated the Indian public’s sense of humour — including that of their own fanbase. Uber mentioned in court that the advertisement was a light-hearted promotional campaign, and the aim of the video was to show that Uber Moto Taxi is actually the fastest way to commute in Bengaluru, given the heavy traffic situation. They were encouraging fans to use bike taxis to avoid traffic and reach the stadium for the match on time.

The counsel also mentioned that in the ad, Travis Head metaphorically suggested that Sunrisers Hyderabad will “royally challenge” RCB in the upcoming match.

The counsel rejected the trademark violation allegations made by RCB. Uber’s counsel said, “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 Moto or Bike Taxi is an official sponsor of Sunrisers Hyderabad, and that is the reason why they have been coming up with several new ad campaigns like this