The rivalry between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League has extended into the legal system.
Chennai Super Kings Limited is the target of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in the Madras High Court by Sun TV Network, the media company that controls the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise. The IPL franchise allegedly copied songs, background music, and famous lines from Jailer, Jailer 2, and Coolie in advertising material without permission, according to the network.
The petition claims that CSK exploited the dialogue and audio tracks, including the well-known “Hukum” theme from Jailer, in social media videos promoting the team’s jersey unveiling and other announcements before to the Indian Premier League season.
Senior attorney J Ravindran, representing Sun TV Network, argued in front of Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Friday that the content was exploited for commercial purposes without the owner’s permission. The network has requested damages of Rs 1 crore as well as a thorough breakdown of the money made from the promotional videos.
However, after receiving a complaint email from Sun TV on March 1, CSK Limited’s attorney P S Raman told the court that the franchise had already ceased utilizing the contested songs, background soundtracks, and dialogue. He gave the court his word that any further use of such copyrighted content would only occur with the necessary authorization.
After recording the statement, the court ordered CSK to submit an affidavit by March 16 attesting to its promise to refrain from using the content without the required authorization.
Since this is one of the first cases of a production company suing a cricket team for exploiting movie content in marketing efforts without permission, the case has generated a lot of attention among IPL teams and their social media teams.
The problem also emphasizes how crucial copyright compliance is to sports marketing, especially as teams use pop culture allusions and movie soundtrack more frequently to interact with supporters online.
The August 2023 release of Jailer, which starred Rajinikanth and was directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, was a huge hit, and its music became extremely well-known. The sequel is presently under development.
In the meantime, Rajinikanth’s 171st movie, Coolie, which was directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and starred Nagarjuna, Soubin Shahir, and Upendra, was released in August 2025.
