Delhi HC protects Naga Chaitanya’s personality rights

The Delhi High Court granted interim protection to Telugu actor Naga Chaitanya, restraining the circulation of pornographic and AI-generated content misusing his identity. The court also barred unauthorised merchandise sales and ordered the removal of objectionable material from online platforms

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of Telugu actor Naga Chaitanya and restrained the dissemination of pornographic content and AI-generated images portraying him in inappropriate scenarios.

Justice Jyoti Singh, in an interim order passed on Akkineni Naga Chaitanya’s lawsuit, also restrained third parties from selling merchandise bearing his name and image without consent, and directed the removal of the objectionable content from online platforms.

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Naga Chaitanya’s senior counsel contended that several websites were hosting pornographic video content using the actor’s name as a category or tag, which was causing irreparable harm to his reputation.

He further said some parties were selling merchandise bearing his likeness, and YouTube videos and channels were carrying defamatory, AI-generated and otherwise unauthorised content in violation of the film star’s personality and publicity rights.

In the interim order dated May 29, the judge said Naga Chaitanya is unquestionably a renowned actor in the Indian film industry and has the right to protect his name, likeness, voice and image from unauthorised use by third parties.

“Such a distasteful content is harming and damaging the reputation of the Plaintiff and may mislead the public into believing what is depicted may be true. Plaintiff’s right to restrain third parties from infringing and passing off also needs to be preserved,” the court stated.

Several public figures, like actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani had earlier approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. The high court granted them interim relief.

Recently, the high court also protected the personality rights of politician Shashi Tharoor, cricketer Gautam Gambhir and actors Sonakshi Sinha, Vivek Oberoi, Arun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Allu Arjun by granting interim relief.