Bombay High Court Protects Asha Bhosle’s Personality Rights Against AI Misuse
The Bombay High Court has granted renowned playback singer Asha Bhosle ad-interim protection of her personality and moral rights, restraining artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, online marketplaces, and sellers from unauthorizedly cloning her voice or commercially exploiting her image, likeness, and other attributes [Asha Bhosle Vs Mayak Inc].
Justice Arif S Doctor held that prima facie, the unauthorized use of a celebrity’s personality traits, including their name, voice, photographs, caricatures, or likeness, constitutes a violation of their publicity and personality rights.
“Making AI tools available to enable the conversion of any voice into that of a celebrity without his/her permission would constitute a violation of the celebrity’s personality rights. Such tools facilitate the unauthorized appropriation and manipulation of a celebrity’s voice, which is a key component of their personal identity and public persona.”
the Court added.
Bhosle had approached the Court against several defendants, including Mayk Inc, an AI company allegedly offering cloned versions of her voice; Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd and Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd, for displaying and selling posters and merchandise using her likeness without consent; an independent artist selling apparel with her image; and Google LLC, as the operator of YouTube, where AI-generated videos imitating her voice had been uploaded.
Her petition emphasized that such misuse undermines her reputation and goodwill built over a career spanning 82 years, during which she has recorded songs across genres and won multiple national and international awards, including the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Vibhushan, and two Grammy nominations.
The Court granted her ad-interim relief, observing that the balance of convenience lay entirely in Bhosle’s favour. Justice Doctor issued the strongest directions against AI platforms and sellers (defendants 1, 2, and 5 in Bhosle’s plaint), restraining them from using, exploiting, or misappropriating Bhosle’s name, voice, vocal style, technique, manner of singing, photograph, image, likeness, signature, persona, or any other attributes of her personality for any commercial or personal gain, including via AI voice models, generative artificial intelligence, machine learning, or face morphing, without her written consent.
The Court also ordered these defendants to remove all infringing material identified in Bhosle’s plaint, including cloned voice recordings, merchandise, and digital content, and to deliver up copies of such material, whether in physical or digital form, for destruction. Amazon and Flipkart were directed to remove all infringing listings within one week and ensure similar unauthorised listings are taken down when notified. Google/YouTube was ordered to remove the specific infringing URLs and similar AI-generated content when reported.
All platforms were further directed to provide Bhosle with basic subscriber or seller information of infringing parties — including names, contact details, IP logs, and payment details — to enable her to pursue further legal remedies.
While passing its ruling, the Court relied on caselaws such as the Bombay High Court’s ruling in Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP (2024) and the Delhi High Court’s ruling in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan v. Aishwaryaworld.com (2025), both recognizing unauthorized AI-driven exploitation of celebrity attributes as violations of personality rights. The Court also noted that the absence of some defendants despite service of notice strengthened Bhosle’s claim. The matter will be heard next on October 13, 2025.
Asha Bhosle was represented by Advocate Ankit Lohia, with Advocates Vikram Trivedi, Rashid Boatwalla, Lipsa Unadkat, and Garima Jain, instructed by Manilal Kher Ambalal & Co. Google LLC was represented by Advocates Charu Shukla and Amishi Sodan.
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