Today, On 12th December, The Delhi High Court directed the platforms to take swift action after Sunil Gavaskar reported fake online content and misuse of his photographs, instructing the intermediaries to respond promptly once the specific offending URLs are provided by him.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court instructed Google, Meta, and X to address the requests made by former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar regarding the removal of content that misuses his photos, name, and infringes on his personality rights.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed Gavaskar to submit the specific URLs of the infringing content, which the platforms are required to act upon within a week.
The Court stated,
“Defendant Numbers 7, 10 and 11 are directed to treat this plaint as a complaint and decide the same within a week from today. Plaintiff is directed to provide the intermediaries with specific URLs within 48 hours from today. The URLs may be provided through counsels who entered appearance. The defendants 7, 10 and 11 (intermediaries) are directed to communicate their decision to the plaintiff within a week,”
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This directive came after Gavaskar approached the Court to seek action against multiple entities misusing his persona.
Among the unauthorized content mentioned were misleading critical remarks about the Indian men’s cricket team coach, Gautam Gambhir, and other players, along with a false statement attributed to Virat Kohli.
Additionally, the lawsuit pointed out instances of counterfeit signed memorabilia and images being sold online, misleading consumers into paying for fake items that have no association with Gavaskar.
Justice Arora emphasized that the initial step should always involve approaching the intermediaries for content removal.
He remarked,
“You are aware of my view no? That you have to first approach the intermediaries and then the court will take it up. Let them act on their complaint. In fact, I don’t understand why parties are resisting it. I don’t understand why parties are not availing that mechanism. They will largely take care of your grievances. What will remain the court will take care of it. The Court is then in a better position to adjudicate it. Rather than shooting in the dark,”
Earlier, Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has moved the Delhi High Court asking for protection of his personality rights .
Gavaskar has asked the Court to stop several online and offline entities from using his name, image, voice, likeness, and overall persona without his permission.
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Gavaskar is the first cricketer to initiate legal action concerning personality rights.
Senior Advocate Gopal Jain, is representing Sunil Gavaskar.
The issue of personality rights has become very important in recent years because many celebrities have found their photos, videos, names, and voices being misused for advertisements, promotions, or content monetisation without their approval.
In the past, several well-known personalities have also approached the Delhi High Court for similar protection.
These include Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Karan Johar, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Jaggi Vasudev, who have all secured legal orders safeguarding their identity from unauthorised exploitation.
Recently, Salman Khan also filed a personality rights suit before the Delhi High Court seeking similar protection, reflecting the growing concern among celebrities about misuse of their public image in the digital age.
Case Title: Sunil Gavaskar v Cricket Tak (CricketTak557) and Others
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