Delhi HC extends personality rights protection to actor Akkineni Nagarjuna
Nagarjuna submitted that he was aggrieved by three infringements - pornographic websites, sale of merchandise by unauthorisedly using the actor's personality traits and various YouTube videos.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday extended personality and publicity rights protection to Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna.
The right to publicity, popularly known as personality rights, is the right to protect, control and profit from one's image, name or likeness.
The court said it would pass an order for the plea that came up for hearing before Justice Tejas Karia. “When you can identify the URLs, the best is to direct them to take down….. Will pass orders,” the court orally said.
The court said it would issue appropriate orders and listed the matter for further hearing on January 23.
What did Akkineni Nagarjuna's plea say?
Akkineni Nagarjuna's petition flagged three categories of violations: pornographic content falsely attributed to him, unauthorised merchandising, and AI-generated material misusing his likeness.
His counsel pointed to YouTube shorts and paid promotional videos that use hashtags linked to Nagarjuna and warned that such content could further be used to train artificial intelligence models.
Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar said Nagarjuna's personality rights were being violated and his clips were being used in pornographic videos, AI-generated content.
“He was perturbed and approached the (Delhi) High Court today... The court said that all such links should be brought down immediately and that the order is still awaited,” Gaggar said.
The Delhi High Court observed that once material is uploaded to the Internet, generative AI models can recognise it regardless of its authenticity.
While noting that specific URLs, 14 identified so far, can be directed to be taken down, Justice Karia also remarked on the broader question of how long such injunctions can reasonably continue, given the enduring fame of public figures.
About Akkineni Nagarjuna
Akkineni Nagarjuna has 95 films to his credit and two national awards. He enjoys a formidable reputation in the Telugu film industry.
Widely referred to as a “celluloid scientist” for his versatility, the actor is also celebrated for his role in Shiva, which Anand said changed the course of Indian cinema.
Nagarjuna's large online presence, over six million followers on X and more than eight million on Facebook, was also highlighted.
Other Bollywood actors with protection of personality rights
Recently, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her husband Abhishek Bachchan and filmmaker Karan Johar also approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights, and the court granted them similar relief.
(With agency inputs)