Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) filed a suit against a famous Indian taxi-hailing company in the Delhi High Court. RCB claim that an advertisement released on YouTube on April 5 disparages them. The ‘ad’ features Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) star opener Travis Head, where he can be seen taking aim at RCB.
RCB sues company for viral ‘Travis Head ad’
In the 1-minute-long advertisement, Head can be seen using paint and calling RCB ‘Royally Challenged Bengaluru’. This doesn’t sit well with the franchise, and so they have taken the taxi-hailing company to court.
Advocate Shwetasree Majumder, representing RCB in the court, stated that any negative comment can be seen as disparagement. She further added that the advertisement also infringes on RCB’s trademark.
“You had millions of creative ways to do advertisement. Did you have to do it using my trademark? And using someone who was earlier with me? Does parity, fair use defence lies in the mouth of Uber Moto?” she said.
Response to RCB
To this, the counsel for the taxi-hailing company responded with the argument that the term ‘Royally Challenged’ has been associated with RCB in the past. Whenever teams have gone against RCB, the term has been used by media houses and publications.
“In the past, teams have challenged RCB, and there have been media articles saying RCB has been royally challenged in the match,“ the counsel said.
The defendant also added that the advertisement was a promotion for using the taxi-hailing company on May 13, the date of the clash between RCB and SRH in Bengaluru.
