Royal Challengers Bengaluru moves Delhi HC against Uber's 'disparaging' YouTube ad

Royal Challengers Bengaluru moved Delhi High Court on Thursday accusing a YouTube advertisement from Uber of disparaging its trademark.

Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited filed a suit against Uber India Systems Pvt Ltd claiming that Uber Moto's YouTube advertisement titled "Baddies in Bengaluru ft. Travis Head" disparages its trademark.

RCB accused Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Head, the main character in the advertising, of disparaging its trademark.



RCB's counsel argued that Head is seen running towards Bengaluru cricket stadium with an aim to vandalise the signage of "Bengaluru Vs Hyderabad", takes a spray paint and writes "Royally Challenged" before Bengaluru making it "Royally Challenged Bengaluru" which disparages RCB's mark.

The lawyer further said that when a negative comment is made, there is disparagement and added that Uber Moto, being the commercial sponsor of Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team, while promoting its product which is booking a ride, used RCB's trademark in the course of its trade in a "deceptive variant", which was impermissible under law.

Uber's defence counsel said RCB had "severely discounted" the sense of humour of the public at large.

The general messaging of the advertisement, the counsel added, was that there was a match between RCB and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Bengaluru cricket stadium on May 13 and since it was a city with traffic jam, "public must use uber moto".

Uber's counsel said good humour, sense of fun and banter are intrinsic to advertising messaging and these factors "will be killed" if such a standard, as mooted by RCB, is applied.

The advertisement has garnered 1.3 million views and a number of comments from users on the social media platform.