On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court declared that it will issue an order safeguarding the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan to exclude unauthorized use of his name, image, and voice in commercial activities. In his hearing of the case, Justice Tejas Karia also said the court will order the online content removal of data that violates the rights of Bachchan. He furthe said, “We’ll consider it. I shall order.”
The development came a day after the court suggested the same protection to the personality rights of actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and this is an indication that the judiciary is becoming aware of the need to curb digital misuse of celebrity identities.
Abhishek Bachchan, in his petition filed through the advocated Pravin Anand and Dhruv Anand, stated that several parties have been infringing his right to publicity, in which they have used his likeness, name, and voice to carry out illegal commercial activities. What was being claimed in the petition was that these activities were being done in a clandestine and surreptitious manner without the identification of the people behind them.
Bachchan also emphasized the malicious use of artificial intelligence and deepfake technology in the creation of fake, misleading, and even sexually explicit or vulgar content. These falsified videos and images, which are usually posted on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc., have allegedly been geared toward creating views, likes, and profits at the cost of his image.
The petition underlined that such actions are not only unlawful and intentional but also deceptive, resulting in irreversible damage and harm to his image and dignity. The expanding abuse of content created by AI, the suit claimed, is an immediate danger to the personal and professional integrity of individuals, and thus the judiciary should intervene.
The Delhi High Court, with its next order, is likely to consolidate the legal framework of personality rights in India and establish a precedent that would regulate the exploitation of celebrities in the context of digital manipulation and unauthorized commercial exploitation.
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