The IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) dragged Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd. to the Delhi High Court on Thursday over its recent IPL-themed advertisement showing Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketer Travis Head.

ALSO READ
Uber enters 3W, 4W logistics via Courier XL

Released on April 5, 2025, the advertisement has already been watched over 1.3 million times on YouTube and has since attracted significant attention online. In a statement, RCB said the latest ad makes fun of their franchise name and uses it without the team’s consent.

The advertisement, titled ’Baddies in Bengaluru”, shows Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) players. Travis Head is depicted altering a stadium sign from “Bengaluru vs Hyderabad’ to “Royal Challenged Bengaluru, a play on RCB’s official name, “Royal Challengers Bengaluru”. This advertisement has been perceived by RCB as a deliberate distortion of their trademarked name and an attempt to mock their brand identity.

ALSO READ
IPL 2025, RCB Match Tickets: How to book tickets for RCB’s second phase home match?

RCB’s lawyer, Shwetasree Majumder, said that Uber, which sponsors the SRH team, used RCB’s brand to promote their bike taxi service, Uber Moto. She told the High Court that this was done to get attention and make money while damaging RCB’s reputation.

In response to that, Uber’s lawyer said that this ad is just a fun take on Bengaluru’s traffic and not meant to insult anyone. He said it doesn’t use RCB’s official logo or full name and should be seen as light-hearted humour.

As of now, Judge of the High Court, Justice Saurabh Banerjee, listened to both sides and has not yet given a decision. He said people may look at the ad differently, and it’s not easy to say whether it truly harms the RCB brand or not.