Delhi High Court shields Aman Gupta from AI deepfakes and unauthorized digital exploitation

Delhi High Court grants interim personality rights protection to Aman Gupta against unauthorized digital misuse

On May 7, 2026, the Delhi High Court granted a comprehensive ex parte ad interim injunction in favor of Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt Lifestyle, Founder and CEO of OFF/BEAT, and a recognized figure from Shark Tank India. The ruling marks a significant development at the intersection of celebrity rights, artificial intelligence, and India's digital legal framework. The order effectively restrains over 44 defendants from exploiting Gupta's name, image, voice, likeness, and overall persona without explicit authorization. Passed by Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, the interim relief addresses a wide spectrum of alleged digital and commercial violations. Gupta's petition outlined large-scale misuse of his identity across multiple platforms. The unauthorized activities restrained by the court include: To enforce the injunction, the court directed digital intermediaries, including Google LLC, to take down the infringing content and disclose specific account details associated with the violations. While Indian courts have a precedent of protecting the personality and publicity rights of traditional celebrities such as film actors and athletes, this case represents a notable expansion of those protections. It is one of the first major instances of these rights being extended to a new-age entrepreneur whose public persona was primarily built through digital media, brand building, and television visibility. The ruling underscores a broader shift in the modern business ecosystem, acknowledging that startup founders now frequently function as public personalities with distinct, monetizable identity assets. For the startup sector, the case highlights the emerging necessity of treating a founder's identity as intellectual property, particularly given the rise of AI-driven content generation and platform-amplified impersonation risks. During the proceedings, the plaintiff was represented by Senior Advocate Ms. Diya Kapur along with a team of advocates. Google LLC was represented by its own legal counsel, while the Union of India appeared through the Central Government Standing Counsel. The court has directed the defendants to file their written statements within 30 days of receiving summons. The timeline for future proceedings is as follows:

Delhi HC Protects Aman Gupta From AI Deepfakes, Fake Profiles

Justice Tushar Rao Gedela of the Delhi High Court passed the interim order after entrepreneur and Shark Tank India judge Aman Gupta filed a suit alleging widespread unauthorised commercial use of his personality attributes across online platforms. Gupta is the co-founder of consumer electronics brand boAt. The suit named several defendants, including unknown persons, online intermediaries, and websites allegedly using his name, image, voice, likeness, slogans, and trademarks without authorisation. The alleged infringements included AI-generated chatbots impersonating Gupta, fake event booking listings, the sale of merchandise bearing his catchphrases, fake Instagram profiles, the publication of purported contact details, and the circulation of pornographic and deepfake content. What the court said: The Court held that Gupta had established sufficient goodwill and public recognition to seek protection of his personality and trademark rights. The order stated: "The manner in which the defendants are exploiting his name, voice, persona, slogans, registered trade marks of the plaintiff positively assert the underlying fact of plaintiffs' personality which are exclusive to him and none else." On the alleged deepfake and obscene content, the Court said: "It goes without saying that the sexually explicit material/videos created by the defendants using the personality traits and attributes of the plaintiff, surely is an aspect which needs immediate and urgent consideration by the Court." Accordingly, the Court restrained the defendants from "misusing or exploiting the plaintiff's name, likeness, image, voice, photos, videos, GIFs, contact details, or any aspect of the plaintiff's persona" without written authorisation, including through "AI, deepfake technology, or any medium". The case will now be heard on October 1, 2026. Right to flag new URLs: The Court also allowed Gupta to flag newly discovered infringing websites during the pendency of the suit. It directed the defendants, Meta, Google, and GoDaddy, to "forthwith lock or suspend the domain name registrations" of such websites after receiving supporting evidence from the plaintiff. The order also directed the platforms to remove identified infringing material and disclose user details linked to certain allegedly fake profiles and accounts. RocketReach and GIFs among infringing material: The order includes several seemingly routine internet services among the allegedly infringing material. These include RocketReach, ContactOut, EasyLeadz, and RapidKings, platforms that publish or aggregate professional contact details and email information. It also lists multiple Tenor and Giphy URLs containing GIFs featuring Gupta. Why this matters: This order is the latest in a rapidly growing body of personality rights litigation from Sadhguru's dynamic+ injunction against deepfake scam sites to Shilpa Shetty's deepfake case against AI-generated obscene content. However, India still has no statute codifying these rights. Courts build precedent case by case, leaving enforcement reactive rather than systemic. The Gupta order goes further than most: it ropes in contact-aggregator platforms like RocketReach and GIF repositories alongside AI impersonators, broadening what "infringement" means.