In an interim ruling on the athlete’s lawsuit, Justice Jyoti Singh remarked that Yuvraj is one of the most celebrated, recognized, and globally acknowledged cricketers, having represented the nation across all formats for 17 years. Those infringing upon his personality and privacy rights must be “dealt with a heavy hand”.
In the order issued on July 29, Justice Singh safeguarded against the exploitation or misappropriation of the name ‘Yuvraj Singh’ as well as ‘Yuvi’, in addition to his image, voice, likeness, and any other personal characteristics of the cricketer.
Yuvraj argued that apart from the unauthorized sale of merchandise featuring his personality traits, numerous social media accounts were distributing and sharing AI-generated images and videos, falsely depicting him in invented and fictional situations that were harmful to his reputation and goodwill.
The disputed content included posts that were religiously insensitive, videos portraying aggressive and violent behavior towards other cricketers, and content containing vulgar and abusive language, as his counsel explained to the court.
Instructing Meta Platforms and other online services to eliminate the offensive material, the court noted, “There is no doubt that the plaintiff’s status inherently provides him proprietary rights over his personality and connected attributes, granting him exclusive rights to exploit these personality traits for commercial purposes and thereby the entitlement to shield various aspects of his persona from unauthorized use or exploitation by third parties.” “The content of the contentious AI-generated posts and deepfake videos is damaging the significant goodwill and reputation of the plaintiff, built over the years through diligent effort and outstanding performances in cricket, as well as his contributions to social welfare, diminishing his image and prestige in the eyes of the public,” the court concluded.
Several public figures, including actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, podcaster Raj Shamani, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, and cricketer Abhishek Sharma, have previously sought assistance from the high court to protect their personality and publicity rights. The high court had granted them interim relief.
