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The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor by restraining several social media accounts and websites from misusing his personality and publicity rights. The order was passed by Justice Tushar Rao Gedela on April 29 in response to a suit filed by the actor.
Arjun Kapoor gets interim relief in personality rights case against online misuse
The court issued an ex parte ad interim injunction, observing that multiple defendants had been using Kapoor’s name, image and identity without authorisation for commercial gain. This included the sale of merchandise such as T-shirts and posters, as well as unauthorised event promotions.
“Clearly, there is no permission or license granted by the plaintiff to any of the defendants for exploitation of his personality/publicity rights,” the court noted. It further ruled that any such use without consent would amount to infringement of the actor’s rights.
As part of the order, the court directed tech platforms including Google and Meta to take down the infringing content. The platforms have also been asked to provide Basic Subscriber Information of users operating the accounts responsible for sharing such material.
Kapoor’s legal team, led by advocate Pravin Anand, informed the court that his identity was being commercially exploited without approval. The submissions also highlighted the circulation of objectionable and explicit content online, including AI generated deepfake videos.
Taking note of this, the court ordered immediate removal of such material. It observed, “Clearly, those defendants who have employed AI tools to create videos containing sexually explicit and abhorrent content are demonstrably violating the personality/publicity rights of the plaintiff. In fact, such videos are vulgar and clearly would dent the image and the personality rights of the plaintiff, not only beyond measure, but presumably, irreparably too.”
The court also addressed arguments from intermediaries claiming that some of the content fell under parody or satire. While acknowledging that possibility in limited instances, it held that the majority of the material presented indicated a clear infringement. “The overwhelming numbers of screenshots placed on record… do appear to be, to this Court, a prima facie, infringement,” the bench stated.
In its observations, the court recognised Kapoor’s public identity as a valuable personal asset built through his work in films, public engagements and media presence. It noted that these attributes act as source identifiers and are protected under personality rights law.
The court has also allowed Kapoor to seek further action against any new instances of infringement that may arise. The matter is scheduled for its next hearing on October 10.
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