Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel amongst 5 cricketers moving to Delhi high court to curb use of their names for NFTs: Reports

Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel and 3 other Indian cricketers moving to Delhi high court.

According to reports, five Indian cricket players and the digital collectibles company Rario have petitioned the Delhi High Court to stop online fantasy sports companies from creating Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) with their names and images on them.

According to a report by the Bar and Bench, Rario and five Indian athletes - Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, and Shivam Mavi - filed their appeals before the Division Bench in response to an order by a single judge.

The solitary judge had made a ruling that allowed online fantasy sports sites to utilize the names and images of well-known people. According to the Delhi High Court's order from April 26 regarding this matter, certain aspects of the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) permit such an act.

By creating tradable cards, you (other OFS) have crossed a line: Harish Salve representing the cricketers  

Former Solicitor General of India and senior Advocate Harish Salve represented Rario before a division bench of Justices Manmohan and Saurabh Banerjee on Thursday. In his submission, he claimed that Rario had recognized players’ rights, made payments, and obtained rights to use that concerned personality.

“By creating tradable cards, you (other OFS) have crossed a line. Because a tradable card is not based on a player’s performance, it is based on their persona. You can take the example of Sunil Gavaskar. If somebody today says that this is a Gavaskar signed bat and through digital means they take his signature, you are violating his privacy and it may also amount to passing off,” Bar and Bench quoted Salve as saying.

He is entitled to use his persona: Players’ lawyer cites Rinku Singh’s example

Mukul Rohatgi, on the other hand, appeared for some of the players and gave the example of Rinku Singh, a batter for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 16th Indian Premier League (IPL) season. In support of his claim, Rohatgi mentioned Rinku's amazing game-winning strike against Gujarat Titans in an IPL 2023 match.

In the final over of that match, Rinku had smashed five sixes to give his team the victory.

“There is a cricketer named Rinku Singh. He has become famous for hitting five sixes to win the match. Now, he is entitled to earn the money. He is entitled to use his persona," Rohatgi reportedly said.

The bench ordered both parties to submit their written arguments within seven days after the conclusion of the hearings. The matter was also scheduled for hearing again on May 23 by the bench.