New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has granted interim protection to actor Arjun Kapoor’s personality and publicity rights, restraining unauthorised use of his name, voice, image and other attributes by third parties.
In an order dated April 29, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the immediate removal of infringing content, including impersonations, unauthorised merchandise, deepfake videos and obscene material created using artificial intelligence tools.
The court observed that Kapoor has established a distinct identity in the film industry, and his persona—including his name, likeness, voice and signature—deserves protection from exploitation. It noted that evidence submitted in the case showed widespread misuse of his identity, particularly through AI-generated content aimed at unlawful financial gain.
Highlighting the seriousness of the issue, the court said such content, especially sexually explicit and vulgar material, could cause irreparable damage to the actor’s reputation and cannot be compensated merely through monetary relief.
“Such content cannot be permitted to continue to be available on any platforms in any manner whatsoever and must be taken down immediately,” the court stated.
The court also directed tech giants Meta and Google to disclose basic subscriber information of accounts and channels allegedly involved in creating and distributing the infringing content.
The ruling comes amid a growing number of public figures approaching courts to safeguard their personality rights against misuse in the digital space. Similar relief has previously been granted to actors, spiritual leaders and media personalities in recent cases.
