Gautam Gambhir Personality Rights Case: Delhi HC Orders Meta, Google To Take Down Web Links Targeting India Head Coach

(MENAFN- Live Mint) In a major development, the Delhi High Court stated that it will an interim pass order to Meta and Google to strike down the objectionable web links targeted at two-time World Cup winner and current India men's team head coach Gautam Gambhir. The decision comes a week after Gambhir filed a civil lawsuit, seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights, citing misuse of his name and image through AI generated deepfakes.

The matter was heard by Justice Jyoti Singh. At the outset, Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, appearing for Gambhir, thanked the Court for allowing time to correct defects in the application.

Also Read | Gautam Gambhir moves Delhi HC seeking protection of personality rights

He informed the Court that a number of defendants have already taken down the offending content. However, he pointed out that fresh instances and replications are still appearing online and sought a dynamic injunction to address repeated uploads.

According to a Live Law report, after hearing both the parties, Justice Singh stated that she will pass an interim order and ask Meta, Google and Amazon Sellers to take down the infringing content. The Delhi HC also stated that it will ask Google and Meta to give Basic Subscriber Information (BSI), Internet Protocol (IP) login details of the up-loaders.

What did Meta's & Google's counsel say?

In the court, Meta's counsel submitted that the infringing URLs and content have been removed and are inaccessible as off Wednesday. A list of URLs were submitted by the Meta's counsel to the Court to justify their position. The court further recorded that one of the URLs was an entire profile.

Also Read | Gautam Gambhir's personality rights: Delhi HC to hear lawsuit on March 23

“Statement is taken on record. If plaintiff comes across infringing links identical to the subject links; the same shall be brought to notice of defendant no 13 (Meta) through counsel and needful action be taken with 36 hours. It will be open to plaintiff to approach the court,” the court said.

The counsel for Google present at the court, stated that one URL in the complain had already been taken down.“Please give it in writing which have you taken down. All of you sit down. I will pass an order and be done with it,” the court further added and passed over the matter.

Earlier, Gambhir sought ₹2.5 crore in damages from the defendants for allegedly misusing his name and images for commercial gain. In fact, he also reported that several AI-generated deepfake and manipulated videos are being circulated online by falsely attributing statements which he has never made and sought the removal of such misleading content from social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

List of celebrities with personality rights protected

Gambhir became the second former India cricketer after Sunil Gavaskar to have his personality rights protected. Meanwhile, the coordinate benches have earlier passed orders protecting the personality rights of singer Jubin Nautiyal, Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan, actors Kajol Devgan, R Madhavan and NTR Junior, Nagarjuna, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and film producer Karan Johar.

Also Read | Coach Gambhir thanks Jay Shah for 'trusting him' with the job, lauds Shahs passion for the sport

According to Live Law, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan too has filed a similar lawsuit. Not just the cricketers and actors and politicians, coordinate benches have also passed orders for protecting the personality rights of Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and journalist Sudhir Chaudhary.

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