Sadhguru moves Delhi High Court seeking protection of personality rights, alleges AI misuse

Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru aka Jagadish "Jaggi" Vasudev has moved the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights and alleging misuse of artificial intelligence (AI)..Justice Saurabh Banerjee today briefly heard the suit moved by Sadhguru and reserved his interim order in the case. The order is likely to be uploaded soon..The counsel appearing for Sadhguru submitted that various products were being illegally sold in his name. He also alleged misuse of Sadhguru's image by rogue websites.Accordingly, it was urged that Court may pass a dynamic injunction to ensure protection of Sadhguru's rights. The Court then said it will pass a detailed order. .In this suit, Sadhguru has questioned the unauthorized and unlawful use of his name, image, likeness and other distinctive attributes.The defendants actions amount to misappropriation of Sadhguru's identity and constitute a violation of his personality rights and right to publicity, as they falsely suggest an association or endorsement by him, it states."The Plaintiff No. 1 has the inherent right to his persona and to prevent its misuse in commercial contexts. The acts of the Defendants also constitute passing off, as they unlawfully capitalize on the Plaintiffs’ reputation for their own commercial gain," the suit contends..In particular, it has been alleged that AI tools were being used to "unauthorisedly morph and doctor" Sadhguru's "voice and discourses / speeches / interview(s)" to create deepfakes with the intention to derive illicit commercial gain and spread false information. "Evidently, such content is aimed at perpetuating financial scam; or promoting and selling purported products / services; or for gaining traction on social media through doctored / AI-generated motivational and inspirational talks / speeches purported to be originating from Plaintiff No. 1," the suit states..Advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Deepika Pokharia, Angad S Makkar, Disha Sharma and Pushpit Ghosh, of Saikrishna & Associates, represented Sadhguru..Google was represented by Advocate Mamta Jha, Co-Managing Partner from Inttl Advocare..Various celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Rajat Sharma, Arijit Singh, Mohan Babu have earlier approached High Courts seeking protection of their personality rights. .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.