Delhi High Court protects personality rights of Dr Devi Shetty, Narayana Health trademark

The Delhi High Court recently restrained known and unknown persons from misusing the personality rights of popular cardiologist Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty and infringing upon the trademark of his hospital Narayana Hrudayalaya (Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty v. Medicine Me & Ors).Justice Mini Pushkarna observed,“In the above circumstances, the plaintiffs have demonstrated a prima facie case for grant of injunction and, in case, no ex parte ad interim injunction is granted, the plaintiffs will suffer an irreparable loss. Further, balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiffs, and against the defendants.".The case was filed against certain known and unknown individuals and operators of Facebook pages accused of sharing doctored videos of Dr Shetty, falsely linking him to unverified health tips and products. The Court observed that such content posed a risk of misleading the public and tarnishing the plaintiffs’ reputation.It was contended that Shetty’s name, image and reputation have garnered immense goodwill and public trust. The unauthorised use of his persona and registered trademarks of Narayana Health by third parties for commercial gain was flagged before the Court.According to Shetty, the content in question utilised the personality traits, such as his name/images/voice/ likeness. It poses a significant threat to the unsuspecting members of public who may be misled into purchasing the health products under the impression that the unsubstantiated and unverified health tips are presented by him.It was further contended that Narayana Hrudayalaya’s trademarks, including “Narayana Health” and “Narayana Hrudayalaya,” are synonymous with high-quality healthcare services. The plaintiffs argued that the misuse of these trademarks could mislead the public and harm their goodwill..The Court restrained the defendants from misusing or exploiting the Shetty’s name, image, likeness, or any aspects of the persona for commercial or personal gain without his express authorisation. This prohibition extends to all forms of misuse, including the use of existing or emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and deep fake tools, to prevent infringement of Shetty's personality and publicity rights.Additionally, the defendants have been restrained from infringing the registered trademarks of Narayana Health. The Court has directed social media intermediates to block and take down infringing content while disclosing their complete details, including names, addresses, and contact information. Similarly, Google LLC has been ordered to remove content from YouTube.The Court has further permitted the plaintiffs to approach the social media intermediaries to request the removal of any additional infringing content discovered during the course of the case.. Moreover, telecom and internet service providers and the government have been instructed to block websites found violating the plaintiffs' rights. .Dr Shetty and Narayana Health was represented by Advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Shilpa Gupta, Deepika Pokharia and Naman Tandon.Some of the defendants were represented by Advocates Abhishek Kumar, Ekta Sharma Pragya Jain and Surabhi Katare..[Read order]