The race to secure personality and the uses of personal photographs, videos and other such items being circulated on social media and as a result, minted money with, has hit great pace as India head coach Gautam Gambhir has also entered it. The former cricketer turned coach, has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights.
Gambhir has not only said that he wants to secure his personality, but in the process, has also sought damages worth Rs 2.5 crore against various entities using his personality to gain monetary benefits. These entities have been found to use Gambhir’s images, name and voice to market and sell merchandise and also employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) videos and deepfakes to spread misinformation.
Why India’s Biggest Icons Are Racing to Court Over Personality Rights
With this move of his, the 44-year-old Gambhir has joined a unique but elite list of people who have protected their personality through the copy right act. They did it by filing similar petitions before the High Court. The other prominent names in the list include actors Anil Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan and a former cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar.
According to a press statement, there is a coordinated campaign of digital impersonation, AI-generated deepfakes, and unauthorised commercial exploitation of Gambhir’s personality.
Why is Gambhir securing his personality?
As per the press release, quoted by Bar and Bench, “Beginning in 2025, Gambhir’s legal team documented a sharp and alarming increase in fabricated digital content across Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Facebook.”
“Multiple accounts deployed artificial intelligence, face-swapping, and voice-cloning technologies to create realistic videos falsely depicting Gambhir making statements he never made — including a fraudulent “resignation announcement” that garnered over 29 lakh views,” the release added.
The Rs 2.5 Cr damages is sought not only from individuals, but also from e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart who
facilitated the sale of posters and merchandise bearing his name and likeness without any authorisation, the press statement said.
Defendants in Gambhir’s Personality Suit
Social media accounts of JanKey Frames, Bhupendra Paintola, Legends Revolution, gustakhedits, cricket_memer45, GemsOfCrickets, Crickaith, Sunny Upadhyay, @imRavY_, e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart.
They petition also lists platform intermediaries (Meta Platforms Inc., X Corp., Google LLC / YouTube), and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Department of Telecommunications as proforma parties to facilitate implementation of any court order.
The suit has invoked the Copyright Act 1957, Trade Marks Act 1999, and the Commercial Courts Act 2015, as reported.