New Delhi

The Delhi High Court has granted protection to actor Arjun Kapoor’s personality rights, restraining third parties from misusing his name, voice, image, likeness and other personal attributes for impersonation, sale of merchandise, deepfake content, or obscene material.

In an interim order dated April 29, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the removal of infringing content, noting that Kapoor has built a distinct identity in the film industry and that his persona, including his name, image, and signature, deserves legal protection from unauthorised exploitation.

The court observed that multiple screenshots submitted in the actor’s petition indicated prima facie violations of his publicity and personality rights, particularly through AI-generated content created for financial gain.

It held that denial of interim relief could cause irreparable harm to Kapoor, as damage to his reputation and personality cannot be fully compensated in monetary terms.

The court specifically criticised AI-generated videos containing obscene and sexually explicit material, stating that such content was “vulgar” and severely damaging to the actor’s image, and must be removed from all platforms immediately.

It further noted that several defendants were unlawfully exploiting Kapoor’s identity for commercial profit without any consent or licence, thereby unjustly enriching themselves.

The court also directed Meta and Google to furnish basic subscriber details of certain Facebook, Instagram accounts, and YouTube channels accused of hosting infringing content.

In recent years, several celebrities—including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, and podcaster Raj Shamani—have sought similar protection from the court, with interim relief granted in their cases.

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The High Court has also extended protection of personality rights to personalities such as cricketer Gautam Gambhir and actors Sonakshi Sinha, Vivek Oberoi, and Allu Arjun.