Delhi HC grants interim relief to Yuvraj

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the removal of certain online content allegedly infringing the personality rights of former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh, while making it clear that it would not grant a blanket injunction against future content at this stage.

Passing an interim order, a single-judge Bench of Justice Jyoti Singh directed that the uploaders of the URLs identified in the suit first remove the allegedly infringing content within 48 hours.

The Delhi High Court said that if the uploaders fail to comply, Yuvraj Singh may approach the concerned intermediary platforms, which would then be required to remove the content within 36 hours.

Justice Singh clarified that the interim protection would, for the present, be confined to the URLs specifically identified in the suit and declined to issue a general direction requiring online platforms to remove similar or identical content in the future.

"For now, I am directing the takedown of the URLs that are part of the suit. If anything else comes up, file an application, and I will extend the injunction after seeing that it is infringing," the judge said.

During the hearing, the Delhi High Court orally observed that intermediary platforms cannot be expected to determine on their own whether future content is infringing.

"Who decides if it is similar content? It is a big debate. They are not adjudicators. They cannot decide infringing content," Justice Singh remarked while refusing to pass a blanket order covering future uploads.

Yuvraj Singh had moved the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against the alleged unauthorised commercial exploitation of his name, image, likeness and identity across online and digital platforms, including through infringing merchandise and unauthorised content on Facebook, Instagram, Flipkart and Amazon.

The 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 cricketer Gautam Gambhir, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Arjun Kapoor, Allu Arjun, Nagarjuna, Varun Dhawan, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, singer Jubin Nautiyal, film-maker Karan Johar, podcaster Raj Shamani, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, and actor Naga Chaitanya have secured or sought court protection against the unauthorised use of their identity, likeness, or AI-generated imitations.