RCB takes Uber to the court over alleged misuse of slogan in bike-taxi ad

Uber's legal team denied the accusations. They said the ad was meant to be a fun and creative way to promote Uber Moto through Bengaluru's heavy traffic, ahead of the RCB vs SRH match on May 13

Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, the owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has filed a lawsuit against Uber India, accusing the ride-hailing platform of misappropriating and altering one of the team’s popular slogans in a recent advertisement promoting its bike-taxi service.

 

According to a report by the Mint, the case was heard in the Delhi High Court, where RCB challenged Uber’s ad titled ‘Baddies in Bengaluru’, released on April 5. The ad features Travis Head, a Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) player and former RCB cricketer, and has already crossed 1.3 million views on YouTube.

 

RCB’s lawyer told the court that the franchise owns the registered trademark for ‘Royal Challengers Bengaluru’ and the well-known slogan ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde’, which means “This year, the cup is ours.” The lawyer claimed the ad wrongly refers to the team as ‘Royal Challengers Bangalore’ and includes scenes that mock the team’s identity.

 

“This is a targeted attempt to mock and dilute the identity of Royal Challengers Bengaluru,” the counsel said. The ad shows Travis Head’s character spray-painting the altered team name inside a stadium, which RCB says is misleading and damaging. Even though the ad uses the term ‘Bengaluru vs Hyderabad’, RCB argues that viewers can clearly tell it refers to their team.

 

According to the report, Uber’s legal team denied the accusations. They said the ad was meant to be a fun and creative way to promote Uber Moto during Bengaluru’s heavy traffic, especially ahead of the RCB vs SRH match on May 13.

 

RCB’s supporters, according to their lawyer, have found the ad offensive, and it has led to online jokes at the team’s expense. But Uber’s lawyer disagreed, saying, “RCB has severely and massively underestimated the Indian public’s sense of humour — including that of their own fanbase.”

 

About Travis Head’s role, Uber explained that his line ‘Hyderabadi’ was a pun meant to suggest that Hyderabad will “royally challenge” RCB, not an attack on the team. The company also said the ad did not use RCB’s exact trademark and calling the match “Bengaluru vs Hyderabad” was generic and legal.

 

The judge did not immediately decide on the matter and reserved judgment on RCB’s request to stop the ad. He noted, “This is open to interpretation. I am being open. The moment you ask a person, a layman or a court to see the ad and decipher, I can form or have an opinion which is different than yours. There lies the issue of injunction.”

 

Uber’s lawyer argued that the ad is part of commercial free speech, saying, “The case is covered by commercial free speech which cannot be injuncted,” and called the lawsuit “preposterous.” He added, “RCB should combat humour with humour, not with a lawsuit.”

 

But RCB’s lawyer stood firm, saying, “There is no problem with engaging in humour, but the same cannot be done by Uber Moto in a way that it takes RCB’s trademark, which is commercially valuable to the IPL team, and creates a deceptive variant of the same for commercial use.”