The Delhi High Court dismissed the plea by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for seeking an interim injunction against an advertisement of bike taxi service Uber. Uber produced an advertisement which featured Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) cricketer , who ran towards the Bengaluru cricket stadium to vandalise the signage of ‘Bengaluru vs Hyderabad’.

In the advertisement, “Ride like a Hyderabaddie ft. Travis Head,” the SRH opener is seen using spray paint to write, ‘Royally Challenged’ before Bengaluru which belittled RCB franchise. Justice Saurabh Banerjee rejected the interim relief by pointing out that the court was not inclined to take down the advertisement at this stage.

“The impugned advertisement is in the context of a game - cricket, a game of sportsmanship which in the opinion of this court does not call for any interference of any sort at this stage,” the bench said.

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The lawsuit was represented by lawyer Shwetasree Majumder and claimed that Uber used the cricketer to mock the franchise. Majumder said that Uber Moto used a copy of RCB’s trademark in the advertisement, which had over 1.3 million views without permission.

The Uber counsel explained that the main idea of the advertisement was to promote their brand by highlighting Bengaluru’s well-known traffic congestion. They used the IPL context to make the advertisement more relevant, as it was released ahead of the clash between and SRH on May 13 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

Speaking of the match, RCB are taking on the 2016 champions in a crucial encounter. The Rajat Patidar-led team is the table toppers after eight wins and will aim to win the match in front of their home crowds to seal a spot in the playoffs. While, SRH have already been on the verge of elimination will try to utilise the away match to secure the fourth win of the IPL 2025.