The Bombay High Court has granted ad-interim protection to legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle, barring artificial intelligence platforms, e-commerce sites, and independent sellers from cloning her voice or exploiting her image, likeness, and other personality attributes without prior authorisation. The order is regarded as a significant step in protecting celebrity rights in the digital age.
Court Recognises Misuse Of Celebrity Attributes
As reported by Bar and Bench, Justice Arif S Doctor observed that, prima facie, the unauthorised use of a celebrity's personal attributes-such as their name, voice, photographs, caricatures, or likeness-amounts to a breach of publicity and personality rights.
The judge further noted, "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."
Asha Bhosle's Plea Against Multiple Defendants
The 91-year-old singer had filed a petition naming several defendants. Among them were AI company Mayk Inc, accused of creating cloned versions of her voice; Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd and Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd, for selling posters and merchandise featuring her likeness without permission; an independent artist selling clothing printed with her image; and Google LLC, the operator of YouTube, for allowing AI-generated videos mimicking her voice to be hosted on its platform.
Bhosle argued that such acts damaged her reputation and diluted the goodwill she has cultivated over her illustrious 82-year-long career, during which she has recorded across diverse genres and been honoured with accolades such as the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the Padma Vibhushan, and two Grammy nominations.
Court Grants Ad-Interim Relief
Granting her plea, the court held that the balance of convenience was clearly in Bhosle's favour. Justice Doctor directed that AI platforms and sellers must not use, exploit, or misappropriate any aspect of her persona-whether it be her name, voice, vocal style, signature, mannerisms, photographs, or likeness-for commercial or personal purposes without her consent.
The order explicitly covers AI voice models, generative AI, machine learning systems, and face morphing technology.
Defendants were also instructed to remove infringing materials mentioned in the plaint, including cloned recordings, merchandise, and online content, and to surrender such material for destruction.
Amazon and Flipkart were told to take down offending listings within seven days and to ensure future takedowns of similar unauthorised content once notified. Google/YouTube must remove the specific URLs listed in the plaint and take action against further flagged AI-generated content.
Additionally, all platforms must disclose subscriber or seller information linked to the infringing material-including names, contact information, IP logs, and payment details-so that Bhosle may pursue further legal remedies.
In reaching this conclusion, Justice Doctor referred to earlier decisions such as Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP (2024) from the Bombay High Court and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan v. Aishwaryaworld.com (2025) from the Delhi High Court, both of which recognised AI-driven misappropriation of celebrity attributes as violations of personality rights.
The court also observed that the failure of certain defendants to appear despite service of notice lent additional weight to Bhosle's claim.
The case will be taken up for further hearing on October 13, 2025.
