Delhi High Court restrains misuse of Dr Devi Shetty’s name

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has restrained the unauthorised use of name, images and other aspects pertaining to renowned surgeon and chairman Narayana Health, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty. Justice Mini Pushkarna, in an order protecting the personality rights of the medical practitioner, further restrained the infringement of the “Narayana Hrudayalaya” trademarks.

Dr Shetty, in his lawsuit, alleged that “certain third parties” were operating social media pages and misusing his name, likeness, photos and videos by creating and sharing his fake and misleading videos.

Observing if no ex-parte ad interim injunction was granted, an irreparable loss would be caused to Dr Shetty, the judge held, “The defendants 1 to 8 and 13 ..are restrained from misusing, misappropriating or exploiting the name, likeness, image, photos, videos, or any other aspects of plaintiff number 1’s (Dr Shetty) persona, which are solely and exclusively associated and identified with him for any commercial and/or personal gain, in any manner whatsoever, without the plaintiff number 1’s express written authorisation, including, through the use of any existing or future technology such as artificial intelligence, deep fake technology..”

The order passed on November 28 further restrained the respondents from infringing the registered trademarks Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd. The court directed social media platforms to take down the infringing content and disclose complete details of the entities. The plaintiff argued that the impugned content, which utilised his personality traits, posed a significant threat to the unsuspecting members of the public who might be misled into purchasing purported health products on the basis of his “health tips”, causing an irreparable harm not only to his hard-earned goodwill, but also Narayana Health.