Just days before the opening day of the IPL 2026 season, the courtroom tussle continues between Chennai Super Kings vs Sun TV Network. The copyright claim took a new turn when Chennai Super Kings Cricket Limited issued a new statement in the Madras High Court on March 16.
CSKCL told the court that they would approach music licensing agencies like Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and Novex Communications to obtain a license to use the Rajinikanth starrer film. water And Coolie Songs in its promo. He also urged Sun TV Network Limited not to interfere in the process.
What is the main issue between CSK and Sun TV Network?
Ahead of the IPL 2026 season, Chennai Super Kings are facing a legal case filed by Kavya Maran’s Sun TV Network, which also owns the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, after dragging CSK Cricket Limited to court for using the audio track, background music as well as film dialogues in one of their promotional videos without any permission.
According to the case filed by Sun TV Network, CSK used music and dialogues from Rajinikanth’s films Jailer, Jailer 2 and Coolie without any permission. According to the allegations, CSK used music and those famous dialogues from those famous films in a promotional video released to unveil the team’s new jersey.
The video of the jersey unveiling was shared on many popular social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram and ‘X’, which attracted a lot of attention from cricket fans. Later, CSK removed the video from the social media platform as they received a copyright strike from Sun TV Network.
Sun TV Network issues copyright strike
According to media reports, on 13 March 2026, senior lawyer J. Raveendran, who was representing Sun TV Network in the court, informed that CSK stopped using copyrighted material after receiving a warning email sent on March 1. Chennai Super Kings re-uploaded the video with licensed background music.
In the following hearing on Monday (March 16, 2026), CSK Cricket Limited said that they will approach music licensing agencies to get the license to use the audio track, background music, as well as film dialogues.
CSK asks Sun TV Network not to interfere in the process
“Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Cricket Limited on Monday (March 16, 2026) told the Madras High Court that it will approach music licensing agencies like Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) and Novex Communications to obtain a license to use the Rajinikanth-starrer film. water And Coolie According to a report published by The Hindu, it has songs in its promos but Sun TV Network Limited, the producer of those films, should not interfere in the process.
The report further added, “In an affidavit filed before Justice Senthilkumar Ramamurthy, 73-year-old CSKCL managing director Kasi Vishwanathan alias KS Vishwanathan said the cricket company has been using songs, dialogues and music from those films in its promos for many years, but Sun TV Network did not raise any objection till March 1, 2026.”
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