Delhi HC issues takedown for YouTuber Bhuvan Bam’s images, reserves judgment on personality rights

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued orders for the removal of images of YouTuber Bhuvan Bam that were uploaded online without his consent, as per the news reports.

Justice Jyoti Singh clarified that the takedown order applies to unnamed defendants, commonly referred to as John Doe parties, but the court will not pass any orders on Bam’s personality rights at this stage. The judge noted that it is not appropriate to make an initial determination on personality rights on the first date of hearing, explaining that a prima facie finding is not called for at this point.

Bhuvan Bam, one of India’s leading digital content creators with over 26.6 million YouTube subscribers and a significant following on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), has filed a suit alleging unauthorised use of his name, image, likeness, voice, and other aspects of his persona.

He contends that these actions constitute violations of personality and publicity rights, registered trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property jointly held by him and his company, BB Ki Vines.

Bam and BB Ki Vines argued that they have achieved public recognition and that unauthorised commercial use by third parties could lead to confusion and deception among the audience.
The case was represented by advocates Saurabh Seth, Shantanu Agarwal, Chandreyee Maitra, Allaka Malikayil, Raghav Thareja, Neelampreet Deol, Abhiroop Rathore, and Kabir Deol.