Delhi High Court Protects Personality Rights Of Sadhguru, Passes John Doe Order Restraining Misuse Through AI

The Delhi High Court has passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, and has restrained various rogue websites and unknown entities from misusing his personality traits through the use of Artificial Intelligence in any platform or medium.Justice Saurabh Banerjee passed a dynamic+ injunction in favour of Sadhguru observing thus:“Therefore, the position of law apparent therefrom, which has since developed with the passage of time, clearly reflects that the rights of a plaintiff, cannot be rendered otiose in this world of rapidly developing technology and for that, enforcement of intellectual property rights on any social platform, including but not limited to, the internet as well alongwith the real world, ought to be visible and effective.”The Court passed ad interim injunction order in favour of Sadhguru in his suit seeking protection of his personality rights being infringed by various rogue websites and unknown entities. Justice Banerjee said that Sadhguru has acquired uniqueness pertaining to his personality qua his voice, name, signature, image, likeness, vocal, articulation style and his unique attire, looks or appearance.The Court observed that Sadhguru's personality rights are quite unique,and the impugned contents were not only utilizing his personality rights but the defendants had gone a step further and employed modern day technology to modify his images, voice, likeness, videos etc. for commercial gains.“If allowed to continue in the manner it will soon spread like a pandemic with wide uncontrollable repercussions, especially, since it is a social media platform(s) herein happen to be the internet portal(s). If not stopped, the chances that (wrong) message will spread like wild fire with hardly any water left to douse it,” it added. Further, the Court said that with the immense degree of freedom enjoyed by developers and innovators globally today, especially those intellectual property right holders like Sadhguru are prone to or may be exposed or vulnerable to the actions of the 'rogue websites', more so, if such right holders are not accorded proper protection from them.“This so-called dangerous edge has become even sharper with the fast-paced evolution of certain 'hydra-headed' websites, which, even if blocked/ deleted, have the incredible potential to resurface in multitudes as alphanumeric or mirror websites, with only minor, mechanical changes. Such 'hydra-headed 'websites, under the garb of privacy, are able to mask their registration/ contact details perfectly, making it virtually impossible to locate and contact their operators to, if necessary, demand cessation of infringing contents,” the Court said. Justice Banerjee said that given Sadhguru's unique position as a trusted source for spiritual guidance worldwide, any misrepresentation of his endorsement risks irreparable damage not only to his personal reputation but also to public trust at large. The misuse of his persona for commercial gain who rely on the purported endorsement, the court said. The Court ordered suspension of accounts and takedown of YouTube channels which exclusively pertains to content infringing upon Sadhguru's personality rights and directed that their basic subscriber information be disclosed. The Court further directed The defendant nos. 46 and 47 are directed that notifications or directions be issued to social media platforms to block or suspend various websites, social media accounts, channels, etc. of infringing Sadhi exclusive rights.Counsel for Plaintiff: Mr. Srikrishna Rajagopal, Ms. Disha Sharma, Ms. Deepika Pokharia, Mr. Angad Makkar and Mr. Pushpet Ghosh, AdvsCounsel for Defendants: Ms. Mamta R. Jha, Mr. Rohan Ahuja, Ms. Shruttima Ehersa, Mr. Rahul Choudhary and Ms. Himani Sachdeva, Advs. for D-45; Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra and Mr. Tribhuvan, Advs. for D-46 and 47Title: SADHGURU JAGADISH VASUDEV & ANR v. IGOR ISAKOV & ORSCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 649Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Protects Personality Rights Of Sadhguru, Passes John Doe Order Restraining Misuse Through AI

Nupur Thapliyal

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