Cricketer Abhishek Sharma Moves Delhi High Court Seeking Protection of Personality Rights: The boxer, the judge in the Delhi High Court, and the singer had contended that their dignified personalities are violated through the use of their names, images, likenesses, and identities on various online platforms, including AI-based digital content. New Delhi, July 7: Abhishek Sharma, an Indian cricketer, also approached to seek protection of his personality rights, alleging wrongful unauthorised use of his name, image, likeness, and identity.
The matter was mentioned before Justice Jyoti Singh, who looked into the early submissions made by Sharma’s counsel. Through its hearing on the matter, the court noted inconsistencies between URLs recorded in the petition and screenshots placed as evidence. Consequently, the court required Sharma’s counsel to make a further affidavit with matched screenshots before any interim relief was granted. The issue is now posted for more hearings on 9 July.
Court Discusses Personality Rights in the AI Era
The Delhi High Court remarked that often, there is a “fine line” between personality rights and defamation in such matters, particularly when it comes to images produced by AI or something published online. Esta observación hace notar el creciente desafío que plantea ante la ley la inteligencia artificial deepfake, al escribir a nombre de otro sin el consentimiento de ese otro.
Sharma’s petition craves the court’s protection against the purported misuse of his identity bound across websites and social media platforms, stating that publishing content without authorisation can tarnish his image as well as violate his right to control over the commercial use of his person.
Growing Trend of Celebrity Personality Rights Cases
It is part of a growing list of lawsuits from public figures who are trying to shield themselves from AI-generated and digitally-edited content. With the growth of deepfakes and synthetic media, courts are seeing more requests to intervene in cases involving the unlawful use of celebrities’ names, photographs, and images.
What’s Next?
The route has so far declined to grant interim relief at this stage and kept the matter in futility until the petitioner files the additional pleadings that were sought by it. The decision in the case might help shape India’s evolving legal landscape on personality rights, privacy, and AI-generated material.
