Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary Indian opener, has become the first Indian sportsperson to be granted legal protection for his personality and publicity rights. The landmark verdict by the Delhi High Court marks a watershed milestone in Indian sports law, reaffirming the legal legitimacy of an athlete’s identity as a protected personal asset.
On December 23, the Delhi High Court ordered those accused of abusing Gavaskar’s name, image, and voice to take down all infringing content from social media and e-commerce sites within 72 hours. The court further stated that if the accused failed to comply, the platforms themselves would be required to remove the content.
Sunil Gavaskar had approached the court, claiming that the unlawful sale of items, deceptive social media posts, and incorrect attribution of words could harm his credibility as a senior cricket analyst. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora presided over the case, with Gavaskar represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Jain, who was briefed by Krida Legal. The next hearing in this case is scheduled on May 22, 2026.
Significance of the decision: The judgment assumes significance as one of the first judicial sanctions in India to expressly protect a sportsperson’s personality and publicity rights. The court recognized concerns about the spread of vulgar, deceptive, and financially exploitative content online. While acknowledging the importance of humor and satire on social media, the court stated that content that clearly violates an individual’s personality rights cannot be tolerated.
Gavaskar Joins Stars in Securing Personality Rights
The personality rights of an individual are his or her rights over their name, image, voice as well as identity; to control, protect and make a profit out of the same. The petition by Gavaskar pointed out that the unregulated use of the digital realm, in particular, via the virality of social media, generative AI, and illegal merchandising, might lead to reputational harm and commercial exploitation.
The order includes Gavaskar to a list of Indian superstars who have also demanded such protection. Court ordered protection against misuse of their personas has been given to Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Jackie Shroff.
The commercial value of personality rights has been recognized by sportspeople all over the world. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are some of the icons who have registered their names and likelinesses as trademarks and licensing deals.
