Delhi High Court Protects Personality Rights Of Swami Ramdev, Orders Take Down Of Deepfake Content
The Delhi High Court has passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of Yoga guru and Patanjali Ayurved founder Ramdev.
Justice Jyoti Singh restrained various individuals, including unknown entities, from misusing his name, image, voice and other personality attributes through AI-generated deepfakes and unauthorised commercial listings.
Ramdev had contended that for the past several months, he has been subjected to an “unprecedented and alarming onslaught” of AI-generated deepfake videos, manipulated photographs, impersonating accounts and fabricated endorsements.
It was alleged that several posts falsely projected him as endorsing medical products and other goods without authorisation.
X Corp's counsel argued that certain posts were satirical, parody or commentary on matters of public interest and therefore protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. It was contended that not all impugned content amounted to commercial exploitation.
Meta's counsel also opposed grant of a global blocking injunction, pointing out that the issue is pending consideration before a Division Bench in Meta Platforms Inc. v. Swami Ramdev & Anr.
Ramdev's counsel then did not press for global injunction since the legal issue was pending consideration before the Division Bench. He restricted the claim for injunction at the interim stage within India only.
Passing the interim order, the Court observed that Ramdev is a renowned personality in the fields of yoga and Ayurvedic medicine and has earned considerable goodwill and reputation.
It noted that Ramdev has earned a formidable goodwill and reputation and has received several awards, honours and accolades.
The Court ordered take down of content in which Ramdev's personality traits were used without his consent, including listings on e-commerce website 'Amazon' giving an impression that the products were endorsed by him and AI generated videos presenting him alongside another spiritual personality.
However, the Court clarified:
“It be noted that during the course of hearing, argument was canvassed on behalf of the intermediaries that some of the alleged URLs are covered by the exception of parody, caricature and lampooning and therefore, opportunity must be granted to file replies in respect thereof before take down orders are passed. Accordingly, the URLs in respect of which take down directions are not being passed in the present order, rights of the respective parties are reserved to address arguments on the next date.”
The Court restrained the defendants from using the names “Ramdev”, “Swami Ramdev”, “Baba Ramdev”, “Yog Guru Ramdev” or any variations.
They have also been restrained from exploiting Ramdev's voice, image, likeness or distinctive style of discourse and publishing AI-generated content, deepfake videos or voice-cloned material featuring him without consent.
The defendants have been restrained from manufacturing or selling goods using his persona so as to amount to passing off or copyright infringement.
Counsel for Plaintiff: Mr. Rajiv Nayar, Senior Advocate with Mr. Rahul S. Sahay, Mr. Simranjeet Singh, Mr. Rishabh Pant, Ms. Osheen Verma, Mr. Abhijeet Kumar Pandey, Ms. Apurbaa Dutta, Mr. Raghav Rajmalani, Mr. Prabhav Bahuguna, Mr. Naman Maheshwari and Mr. Pratham Arora, Advocates
Counsel for Respondents: Ms. Mamta Rani Jha, Mr. Rohan Ahuja, Ms. Shruttima Ehersa and Mr. Ankit Tripathi, Advocates for Defendant No. 2/Google LLC; Mr. Ankit Parashar, Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Mr. Tejpal Singh Rathore and Ms. Tanish Gupta and Ms. Sanchli Sethi, Advocates for D-4; Mr. Akshay Maloo, Mr. Vivek Ayyagari and Mr. Gynendra Rathore, Advocates for D-5; Mr. Angad Singh Dugal, Mr. Govind Singh Grewal, Mr. Jagtej Singh Kang, Advocates for D-8; Mr. Sahil, Advocate for Defendant No. 10; Mr. Satya Ranjan Swain, CGSC, Mr. Ankush Kapoor and Mr. Vishwadeep. Advocates for D-11 and D-12
Title: SWAMI RAMDEV v. JOHN DOE (S) AND ORS