IPL 2026 is yet to get underway, but Chennai Super Kings, the five-time IPL winners, have already courted controversy after a copyright infringement case was filed against them by Sun TV Network Limited in the Madras High Court.
CSK are accused of using songs, dialogues and background tracks from movies including Jailer, Jailer 2 and Coolie to promote their content on social media.
At the beginning of this month, CSK posted a video on their various social media handles unveiling their new jersey for IPL 2026. The plaintiff says the franchise used audio tracks from the Rajinikanth-starrer movies.
Interestingly, the video was soon taken down and reshared with changes.
“The plaintiff submits that the Defendant (CSK) officially unveiled the new jersey for IPL 2026 on 01.03.2026, offering fans a glimpse of the fresh design through a promotional video shared on social media pages, namely Instagram, X, YouTube and Facebook. The said video, to the surprise of the applicant, prominently used the audio tracks and dialogues from the Plaintiff’s films Jailer, Jailer 2 and Coolie, and further incorporated copyrighted audio elements at multiple junctures, including scenes depicting the arrival of MS Dhoni at the 1st Defendant’s camp," The Indian Express quoted the plaint filed by the media company as saying.
The plaintiff has asked the High Court to stop CSK from using their copyrighted material, besides furnishing accounts detailing the commercial gains made by the franchise from the sale of their jerseys using the music.
“The Applicant submits that the promotional videos mischievously exploited the Applicant’s copyrighted works to aid the sales of the Match Jersey 2026 priced at Rs 2,399 and other merchandise. It is needless to state the influence that music from films involving Mr Rajinikanth and Mr Anirudh would have in aiding merchandise sales of a team based in South India, and more particularly Chennai," it said.
The report further stated that an official email was sent to CSK on March 1, after which they stopped using the copyrighted materials.
Source: News18