The Delhi High Court, on Monday (May 6), dismissed a plea by Royal Challengers Bengaluru against a YouTube advertisement of Uber Moto featuring Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Travis Head. The court has held that no prima facie case of disparagement or infringement of trademark was made out.
Last month, Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited launched a lawsuit against Uber Moto for their YouTube advertisement “Baddies in Bengaluru ft. Travis Head”.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru had filed a case
The lawyer representing the franchise told the court that Head denigrates RCB’s trademark in the advertisement. The franchise claimed that the advertisement commercially disparaged their brand by using the phrase ‘Royally Challenged Bengaluru’.
Head played the character of ‘Hyderabaddie’ in the commercial. In the advertisement, the Australian star could be seen spray-painting the phrase ‘Royally Challenged Bengaluru’ on a stadium signboard.
The advertisement did not go down well with RCB, who argued that it was a ‘deprecatory variant’ of their trademark and intended to make the team a ‘laughing stock’ among fans.
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Delhi Court rejects RCB’s plea:
While RCB wanted the advertisement to be taken down, the Delhi Court has ruled against it for the time being. The court has refused to grant an interim injunction on the advertisement. The court also said that there was ‘no element of demeaning/ criticism/ condemning/ ridiculing/ defaming/ mocking or falsity’ in the advertisement.
“All throughout the impugned advertisement, there is no (in)direct imputation/ insinuation/ comparison/ exaggeration/ sensationalism/ distortion of matters of fact of any kind by any of the defendants against the RCB trademark/ RCB cricket team,” the court said.
Justice Saurabh Banerjee dismissed the application by the franchise while stating that the court does not need to interfere at this stage.
No court interference required
“The impugned advertisement is in the context of a game of cricket, a game of sportsmanship, which, in the opinion of this court, does not call for interference of any sort at this stage, especially while this court is considering the present application…
“More so, since in a case like the present one, interference by this court, at this stage, would tantamount to allowing the plaintiff to run on water with assurances of their not falling,” Justice Banerjee said.
Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bengaluru are looking destined to qualify for the playoffs this season, while SRH’s season has ended at the league stage.
With 8 wins from 11 games, Royal Challengers Bengaluru are currently at the top of the points table. On the other hand, SRH are languishing at the 8th spot with just 7 points after 11 games.