The Delhi High Court has granted an ex parte ad-interim injunction in favour of Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan, restraining multiple entities from unauthorised commercial exploitation
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NEW DELHI — The Delhi High Court has granted an ex parte ad-interim injunction in favour of Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan, restraining multiple entities from unauthorised commercial exploitation of his name, image, voice and other personality attributes, including through artificial intelligence (AI) tools and deepfake technologies.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Jyoti Singh passed the interim order in a commercial suit filed by the actor against several defendants, including online event-booking platforms, e-commerce websites, social media accounts, intermediaries, and unidentified "John Doe" entities allegedly involved in the unauthorised use of his persona.
The suit alleged large-scale misuse of Dhawan's personality and publicity rights through unauthorised celebrity booking services, sale of merchandise bearing his name and likeness, dissemination of derogatory and abusive content, and creation of AI-generated images, videos and deepfakes portraying him in inappropriate scenarios.
It also flagged the circulation of pornographic content falsely associated with the actor.
In its order, the Delhi High Court observed that Dhawan is a celebrated Hindi film actor with a career spanning over 14 years and enjoys substantial goodwill, reputation and commercial value.
The order recorded that Dhawan's name, image, voice, likeness, signature and other distinctive characteristics are uniquely associated with him and constitute valuable personality and publicity rights deserving legal protection.
Justice Singh observed that the plaintiff has secured statutory protection through trademark registrations over his name and signature, and that these attributes, along with his image, voice and likeness, are exclusively associated with him.
“On a holistic reading of the plaint and perusal of the documents, the Court is of the view that the Plaintiff has made out a prima facie case for grant of ex parte ad interim injunction,” the Delhi High Court said.
“The balance of convenience lies in favour of the Plaintiff, and irreparable harm and injury shall be caused to him if the ex parte injunction, as sought, is not granted,” it added.
Justice Singh further observed that several defendants were prima facie violating Dhawan's personality and publicity rights by offering unauthorised appearance bookings, selling merchandise bearing his identity and hosting objectionable AI-generated content.
The judge also took note of submissions that certain defendants were using AI and deepfake technology to generate “distasteful” and misleading content, including suggestive and pornographic material, which could tarnish the actor’s reputation and mislead the public.
Accordingly, the Delhi High Court restrained the defendants and their associates from using or exploiting Dhawan's name, image, voice, likeness or any other identifiable attribute of his persona for commercial or personal gain, including through "Artificial Intelligence, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deepfakes, AI Chatbots, Face Morphing" and other technologies.
It also barred the sale, advertisement or facilitation of merchandise bearing the actor's identity without authorisation and restrained certain social media accounts from creating or disseminating abusive, derogatory or misleading AI-generated content involving him.
Directing immediate remedial action, the Delhi High Court ordered the takedown of numerous infringing URLs across websites, e-commerce portals and social media platforms within 36 hours of receiving the order.
It further directed intermediaries to remove any fresh infringing content notified by the actor within the same time frame and disclose basic subscriber information of identified accounts and channels.
During the hearing, one of the defendants submitted that it had already removed the impugned profile relating to Dhawan after receiving an advance copy of the suit.
The statement was taken on record by Justice Singh.
The matter has been listed before the Joint Registrar on August 5 for completion of pleadings and before the Delhi High Court on October 1 for further hearing.
The Varun Dhawan case adds to a growing list of high-profile personalities invoking their personality and publicity rights before the Delhi High Court.
In recent months, former cricketer and current head coach Gautam Gambhir, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Arjun Kapoor, Allu Arjun, Nagarjuna, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, singer Jubin Nautiyal, filmmaker Karan Johar, podcaster Raj Shamani, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor have secured or sought court protection against the unauthorised use of their identity, likeness, or AI-generated imitations.