Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited Vs. Uber India Systems Private Limited and Ors.

Recently, the High Court of Delhi refused to temporarily restrain the bike-taxi services’ company, Uber India, from broadcasting a video advertisement titled ‘Baddies in Bengaluru ft. Travis Head’ that allegedly infringed/disparaged Royal Challengers’ trade mark ‘ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU’ by showing the “deprecatory” variant of the mark as ‘ROYALLY CHALLENGED BENGALURU’ (and incorrectly portraying the common phrase in the Kannada language, Ee Sala Cup Namde/ This year the cup is ours) to promote Uber India’s services.

RCB claimed that the impugned advertisement is “poking fun” at RCB, which is not within the permissible contours of comparative advertisement as there is no ‘fair use’ by Uber. RCB claimed that Uber aimed at encashing upon the goodwill of the RCB mark/ RCB Cricket team by showing them in derogatory light, and undermining the public’s connection with them. On the other hand, Uber claimed that the impugned advertisement employs only a humorous pun using the names of the cities Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Even if the impugned banner is taken to be a reference to the RCB Cricket team, the same is by way of intentional and denominational use in the spirit of a comical tease or parody, and constitutes light-hearted banter which is widely accepted by sporting fans and is a culturally entrenched part of the game of cricket. He further argued that the purpose and message of the advertisement is to convey that the motorbike services provided by the Uber are highly efficient and reliable.

The court concurred with Uber’s submissions and opined that the general perception created by holistic viewing of the impugned advertisement is one of a healthy banter and light-hearted humour without any elements of disparagement and/or infringement with regards to the RCB trade mark/ RCB Cricket team. It opined that to determine if an advertisement is disparaging, the court will look at the intent behind the advertisement, manner of presentation, and the message trying to be conveyed, when seen through the eyes of a common layman. Thus, even an exaggeration in an advertisement is permissible as long as it does not make serious qualitative/ quantitative representations. In essence, the Uber IPL-themed advertisement did not disparage RCB.

The court concluded that RCB had failed to establish that use of RCB trade mark was without due cause. Accordingly, the court while refusing the grant of interim injunction noted that the advertisement was in the context of a game of cricket - a game of sportsmanship, which, does not call for interference or restriction.

Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited Vs. Uber India Systems Private Limited and Ors. [CS(COMM) 345/2025]

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