AI Generated Image
The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan by issuing an ex parte ad-interim injunction against the unauthorised commercial exploitation of his personality rights.
The order bars multiple entities from using his name, image, voice, and identity without authorisation, including through AI and deepfakes.
Justice Jyoti Singh issued the order in Dhawan’s suit against online platforms, social media accounts, and intermediaries. and unidentified entities.
Dhawan alleged that several entities misused his identity through unauthorised bookings, merchandise, abusive content, and AI-generated images and videos.
The suit also highlighted the circulation of pornographic material falsely linked to him.
The court observed that Dhawan enjoys significant goodwill, reputation, and commercial value built over a distinguished acting career spanning more than 14 years. It noted that his name, voice, image, likeness, and signature are uniquely associated with him and deserve legal protection.
Justice Singh held that Dhawan established a prima facie case for relief and noted that the balance of convenience favoured the actor.
The court further observed that failure to grant protection could cause irreparable harm to his reputation.
The judge found that several defendants violated Dhawan’s personality rights through unauthorised bookings, merchandise sales, and objectionable AI content.
The court barred the defendants from using Dhawan’s identity through AI, deepfakes, chatbots, face morphing, and related technologies.
The court banned unauthorised merchandise sales and barred social media accounts from sharing abusive or misleading content about the actor.
The High Court directed websites, e-commerce platforms and social media intermediaries to remove infringing content within 36 hours. It also ordered intermediaries to disclose basic subscriber details of identified accounts.
The matter will next come up before the Joint Registrar on August 5 and before the High Court on October 1.
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