Delhi High Court protects podcaster Raj Shamani's personality rights but no injunction against parody, satire

The Delhi High Court on Monday passed an order protecting the personality rights of podcaster and entrepreneur Raj Shamani.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the injunction order against AI-generated content and against social media channels and websites using his name, persona and other attributes without his consent.

"We will pass the injunction," the Court said.

However, the Court clarified that, at this stage, it was not passing any injunction against parody or satirical videos.

"In these proceedings, the plaintiff [Shamani] has also sought to take down of videos which ex facie identify itself as parody. In the opinion of this court combining the cause of action with videos which are parody and those on the unauthorised commercial use of plaintiff's personality would embarrass the trial," the Court said.

Justice Arora said that Shamani can bring a separate cause of action with respect to such content.

Senior Advocate Diya Kapur, representing Shamani, today submitted that he is a leading podcaster and runs a podcast show called “Figuring Out” where he speaks with famous personalities and celebrities.

She said that deepfakes depicting him promoting goods and services were being uploaded on the internet.

"There are websites that he is available where it is claimed that they can get Shamani," Kapur added.

In particular, the Court was told that fake endorsements were being run in his name by an entity called Tax Buddy.

Kapur added that chatbots were being run on Telegram where one can ask any question and get an answer as if it was coming from Shamani.

"There are unauthorised chatbots where Telegram channels are set up. They give advice and solicit funds, a crypto scheme that are using his image and name purporting to show that he owns the channels to show he is directly answering questions," Kapur submitted.

It was also argued that obscene online channels were using his content without authorization and hashtags with his name were being used to get more views.

The plaint highlights that there are AI-generated deepfakes, chatbots and morphed content floating online to deceive the public. 

“The Defendants, through unauthorised production, reproduction of podcast videos and technologically manipulated digital content, have created and circulated AI-generated, deepfake, and morphed videos, thereby violating the Plaintiff No. 1’ personality, publicity, trademark rights and Plaintiff No. 2’ copyright and trademark rights.”

He states that these AI-generated videos are monetized for commercial gain by exploiting his personality rights. 

“The dissemination of such misleading AI-generated content not only causes reputational damage and dilution of the Plaintiff No. 1’s goodwill but also directly interferes with the Plaintiff No. 1’s ability to control and protect the economic value of his identity,” he states in his plaint. 

During the argument, the Court underscored that it is not inclined to grant any relief with regard to hashtags. The Court also expressed a disinclination to pass order against memes demeaning Shamani.

“Defendant No. 1’s unauthorised use of hashtags incorporating “Raj Shamani” and “Figuring Out” misleads the public into believing that such content originates from or is endorsed by the Plaintiffs. Such misuse diverts audience traffic, dilutes brand association, and results in reputational and economic harm,” the petition states. 

"Certain issues of demeaning memes can be separately agitated. Why don't you file a separate suit," it added, as it questioned Telegram about the chatbots.

In response, advocate Madhav Khosla, appearing for Telegram, submitted that prayers are overboard on certain aspects. However, he stated that Telegram will take down some of the chatbots.

Raj Shamani was represented by Senior Advocate Diya Kapur along with advocates Nakul Gandhi, Mujeeb, Tanish Gupta, Siddhi Sahoo, Avi Kaushik, Raghav Kumar and Aditya Ladha.