The Delhi High Court has passed an order protecting the personality rights of Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna.The High Court has restrained various websites and online platforms from misusing or misrepresenting Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna's name, image and likeness for any unauthorised merchandising, AI-generated material or pornographic content.
In an order passed on September 25, Justice Tejas Karia said that Nagarjuna's name, image, likeness and persona have acquired a unique distinctiveness and any third party found using any elements of his persona is bound to cause confusion and deception amongst the general public regarding affiliation with/sponsorship.
"The exploitation of one’s personality rights puts at risk not only their economic interests but also their right to live with dignity, potentially causing immeasurable harm to their reputation and goodwill as the adoption of the attributes such as name, image, likeness unauthorizedly will inevitably cause confusion in the minds of the members of the public regarding association with / endorsement by the Plaintiff," the Court observed.
In an interim order passed on September 25, Justice Tejas Karia said "prima facie" it was clear that the attributes of the actor's persona, including his name and images, are being misused by various online handles/entities, without any authorisation from him.
The interim order will remain in force till January 23, when the court will next hear the matter.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 exploitation of one's personality rights puts at risk not only their economic interests but also their right to live with dignity, potentially causing immeasurable harm to their reputation and goodwill as the adoption of the attributes such as name, image, likeness unauthorisedly will inevitably cause confusion in the minds of the members of the public regarding association with / endorsement by the plaintiff," the judge said.
The judge said that the actor was a celebrated personality in the entertainment industry and "the depiction of the plaintiff in settings that are misleading, derogatory and inappropriate will inevitably have the effect of diluting the goodwill and reputation associated with the plaintiff." The court restrained the online entities from violating the actor's personality or moral rights, and also stopped them from passing off their goods and services in any manner that would suggest that they were endorsed by him.
The Court passed the order on a plea filed by the Telugu film star raising concerns that his personality rights were being violated through the unauthorised use of his image in content uploaded on social media, as well as in merchandise.Nagarjuna's counsel had emphasised that the actor has a considerable reputation which is now at risk because of unauthorised content misusing the actor's image, including AI-generated content that uses morphed images of him, which are uploaded on YouTube and other such platforms.
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