Delhi High Court Passes John Doe Order Protecting Personality Rights Of Singer Jubin Nautiyal
The Delhi High Court has passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of singer Jubin Nautiyal.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of the singer restraining multiple AI platforms, websites and e-commerce intermediaries from unauthorized use and commercial exploitation of his personality and publicity rights.
The Court passed the interim order in a suit filed by Nautiyal against various defendants including john does (unknown entities), observing that the singer had made out a prima facie strong case for protection of his personality attributes.
“….the plaintiff has a prima facie strong case and having regard to his well-known, popular and well-accepted personality, the balance of convenience is tilted in favour of the plaintiff. In case, ex-parte ad-interim injunction and other directions, as sought, are not passed, the irreparable loss and injury which may occasion may not be compensated in monetary terms,” the Court said.
It added that the dent and damage to the image and personality of Nautiyal, prima facie, appeared to be real and present.
The Court issued summons in the suit and directed the defendants to file written statements within 30 days.
The matter will now be heard on August 25.
For context, coordinate benches have passed orders protecting personality rights of Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, and actors Kajol Devgan, R Madhavan and NTR Junior. Similar suit has been filed by actor Salman Khan.
The coordinate benches have also passed orders protecting the personality rights of “The Art of Living” foundation founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and film producer Karan Johar.
Notably, the Court also recently protected the personality rights of journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, who had sought relief regarding the circulation of allegedly misleading and AI-generated videos against him on social media.
The Court also passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of podcaster Raj Shamani, observing that he is a known face in India, especially in the field of content creation.
Title: JUBIN NAUTIYAL v. JAMMABLE LIMITED & ORS
Mr. Vivek Vidyarthi, Mr. Suvigya Vidyarthi, Mr. Sarvagya Vidyarthi, Mr. Nischay Chaudhary, Ms. Apoorva Singh, Ms. Rushali Rawat and Ms. Samriddhi Shukla, Advocates appeared for Jubin Nautiyal.
Mr. Rohan Ahuja and Ms. Sugandha Chhibber, Advocates for D-5 and 9.
Mr. Akshay Maloo and Mr. Gyandndra Rathoor, Advocates for D-15.