Delhi HC Protects Actor Madhavan’s Personality Rights
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday protected Bollywood actor R Madhavan’s personal rights by restraining various websites and online platforms from illegally using his name or images for commercial gain without his consent. The high court also prevented some defendants from using Madhavan’s personality traits using artificial intelligence and deepfake technology and ordered the removal of some obscene content uploaded on the internet. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said he would issue a detailed interim order in the matter.
The court said, “Give an interim injunction on the grounds of obscenity for the sale of goods due to defendants 1, 3 and 4 and defendant number 2 in the list.” Senior advocate Swathi Sukumar, representing the actor, alleged that one of the accused had created a fake movie trailer of Kesari 3 and posted deepfake and AI-generated content in the capacity of Madhavan, saying that this movie would arrive soon.
He said the actor had taken to social media platforms against the infringing material before filing the lawsuit.
This was put before the court as the judge recently took the view that people seeking urgent removal of objectionable online content should approach social media platforms before seeking direct judicial relief.
The court was hearing a plea from Madhavan seeking to protect his personal rights and prevent online platforms from illegally using his name, images and inappropriate and sexually explicit content generated by artificial intelligence.
The case concerns the misuse of various aspects of Madhavan’s personality, including his name, image, likeness, personality and voice, by the defendants for commercial gains without his consent.
The right of publicity, popularly known as personality rights, is the right to protect, control and profit from one’s image, name or likeness.
Besides Madhavan, the court also heard similar personal rights cases filed by Telugu actor NTR Junior and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and said it would issue detailed interim orders.
Recently, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, her husband Abhishek Bachchan and her mother-in-law Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgn, filmmaker Karan Johar, singer Kumar Sanu, Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, ‘Art of Living’ founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani have also approached the high court seeking protection of their personalities and publicity. rights. The court granted them an interim injunction.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan and former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also applied to the Delhi High Court seeking protection of their personal rights.
