The next edition of the IPL is still a couple of weeks away, but off the field tensions are heating up in Chennai.
On Friday, the Sun TV Network limited — which owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise — filed a copyright infringement suit in the Madras High Court against Chennai Super Kings for using songs, dialogues and background tracks from Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer, Jailer 2, and Coolie in their promotional content on its social media platforms.
On March 1, CSK had put out a promotional video to reveal their new jersey for the upcoming season. For the promotional video, the franchise had used audio and background tracks and dialogues from Rajinikanth movies. However, hours after it went viral it was taken down before it was released a day later with modifications in the audio. While speculation has been rife about the reasons as the franchise usually relies on Tamil movie songs for its content on social media, the answer to it arrived on Friday when the Sun TV network approached the Madras High Court.
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In its plaint – assessed by this newspaper – Sun TV Network limited stated that Jailer, Coolie and Jailer 2 (yet to be released) were its productions and music composer Anirudh Ravichander had specifically, by way of a written agreement, given all rights for exploitation of the music to the film production firm. “The plaintiff submits that, the Defendants (CSK) officially unveiled the new jersey for the IPL 2026 on 01.03.2026, offering fans a glimpse of the fresh design through a promotional video shared on 1st Defendants social media pages namely Instagram, X, You Tube and Facebook. The said video to the surprise of the applicant prominently used the audio tracks and dialogues from 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 Defendants camp,” it read.
Sun TV network limited also brought to the court’s notice that each jersey was sold for Rs 2,399 and the plaintiff’s copyright works were used unauthorisedly for making commercial gains. “The Applicant submits that the promotional videos mischievously exploited the Applicant’s copyrighted works for aiding the sales of the Match Jersey 2026 priced at Rs 2399 and other merchandises. It is needless to state the influence effect of the music from films involving Mr Rajinikanth and Mr Anirudh would have in aiding the merchandise sales ofa team based in South India and more particularly Chennai.”
The Plaintiff has asked the court to injunct CSK Limited from infringing the copyright. It has also demanded submission of accounts regarding the quantum of money earned through such unauthorised exploitation. While CSK has in the past used sound tracks and dialogues on their social media platforms, since the issue flared up, it has stopped using any such audio for its content.
Appearing for the television network, senior counsel J. Ravindran revealed that CSK has stopped using their copyright materials after they were sent an official mail on March 1. And appearing for CSK Limited, senior counsel PS Raman said the franchise has stopped using the soundtracks and dialogues. He further stated that in case of the franchise using such materials in the future, they would do so only after obtaining necessary permission.
While the issue is only with regards to CSK, other franchises’ social media contingents are also keeping a close tab on the developments. While all the franchises have relied on soundtracks from movies, this is the first instance where a team has been dragged to the court for copyright infringement by a production house.
With a precedent set, some of the franchises have advised their content team to tread cautiously and not use any soundtracks without necessary permission. “Even when we used the audio tracks in the past, due credit used to be given to each production house,” a source pointed out. However, as per copyright infringements, it amounts to violation.
