New Delhi, February 24 – The Delhi High Court has granted a temporary injunction in favor of singer Jubin Nautiyal, restraining multiple artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, online intermediaries, e-commerce websites, and unidentified entities from misusing his name, voice, image, and other attributes of his personality for commercial gain.
A single-judge bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued the interim order in a commercial suit filed by Nautiyal seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against unauthorized AI-generated content, voice cloning, deepfakes, chatbots, and the sale of infringing merchandise.
"In my considered opinion, the plaintiff has a strong prima facie case, and having regard to his well-known, popular, and well-accepted personality, the balance of convenience is in favour of the plaintiff," ordered Justice Gedela, adding that failure to grant immediate relief would result in irreparable harm to the singer's reputation and identity.
"The irreparable loss and injury that may occur may not be compensated in monetary terms. The damage to the plaintiff's image and personality appears to be real and present," the order stated.
In his complaint, Nautiyal claimed that his personality/publicity rights include his name, voice, vocal style and technique, vocal arrangements and interpretations, mannerism and singing style, image, caricature, photographs, likeness, and signature.
The suit alleged that certain defendants – including AI platforms – were using machine learning and generative AI tools to create audio and visual content mimicking the singer's voice, facial expressions, and singing style without authorization.
Nautiyal further stated that the infringing activities included the sale of merchandise such as posters, digital artwork, and other products bearing his name and likeness on online marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon, falsely suggesting association or endorsement.
After reviewing the complaint and accompanying documents, the Delhi High Court restrained the concerned defendants and John Doe entities from directly or indirectly using or exploiting Nautiyal's personality rights through advertisements, merchandise, domain names, AI voice models, synthesized voices, digital avatars, deepfakes, or any similar technological means across online platforms, social media, websites, and the metaverse.
Justice Gedela further directed online intermediaries and e-commerce platforms to remove or block access to identified infringing URLs, posts, videos, and applications, and to disclose available details of entities operating such content to assist in identifying violators.
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications were impleaded to facilitate the implementation of the Delhi High Court's directions.
Issuing summons in the suit, Justice Gedela directed the defendants to file written statements within 30 days of receipt of the summons, along with affidavits admitting or denying the plaintiff's documents.
The matter has been listed before the Joint Registrar on April 28 for completion of service and pleadings and will be taken up by the Delhi High Court on August 25, 2026.
The Nautiyal case adds to a growing list of high-profile personalities invoking their personality and publicity rights before the Delhi High Court.
In recent months, former India cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar, actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (Jr NTR), spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Nagarjuna, Kajol Devgan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan, filmmaker Karan Johar, and podcaster Raj Shamani have secured court protection against the unauthorized use of their identity, likeness, or AI-generated imitations.