New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Friday issued summons in a suit filed by Telugu film actor Akkineni Naga Chaitanya seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against alleged misuse of his name, image, likeness and identity across digital platforms, including AI-generated and pornographic content.
Justice Jyoti Singh, while hearing the matter, indicated that an interim order would be passed to protect the actor's rights. The Court also took note of the plaintiff's request for a dynamic injunction in view of the continuing emergence of allegedly infringing content online. The matter has been listed for further hearing on September 30.
The suit has been filed by Naga Chaitanya alleging widespread and systematic unauthorized exploitation of his personality rights by various entities and unidentified defendants through pornographic websites, AI-generated content, deepfake videos, defamatory material and unauthorized commercial use of his identity.
Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar, appearing for the actor, submitted that one of the primary concerns relates to pornographic content and AI-generated videos falsely depicting the actor in objectionable situations. He specifically flagged content portraying the actor alongside his former wife and falsely suggesting that he had cheated on her and destroyed her career.
"This is trolling, this is not fair criticism," Gaggar argued before the Court.
Highlighting the actor's stature, Gaggar submitted that Naga Chaitanya is a leading figure in the Telugu film industry with a successful acting career spanning over a decade and several awards to his credit. He also pointed out that the actor's father, Nagarjuna Akkineni, had previously secured protection of his personality rights from the Delhi High Court.
According to the plaint, the actor enjoys significant goodwill and commercial recognition in India and among the global Telugu-speaking community. The suit asserts that his name, image, voice, likeness and persona possess substantial commercial value and are entitled to legal protection.
The plaint further alleges that various websites, online platforms and unidentified persons have been using the actor's identity in pornographic domain names, webpage titles, metadata, search tags and video classifications, thereby creating false associations between the actor and obscene content.
The suit also claims that defendants have employed artificial intelligence tools, deepfake technology, voice-cloning software and digital manipulation techniques to create and circulate fabricated audio-visual content depicting the actor in a false, defamatory and misleading manner for commercial gain and online traffic generation.
According to the pleadings, the unauthorized content has caused serious harm to the actor's reputation, dignity, privacy and public image. The actor has alleged violations of his personality rights, performers' rights under the Copyright Act, as well as infringement of his constitutional and common law rights.
Gaggar also informed the Court that there are several defamatory videos and posts available on YouTube concerning the actor.
Appearing for YouTube, counsel submitted that some of the AI-generated videos identified by the plaintiff had already been removed. However, it was pointed out that certain links pertained to news reports, where a different legal threshold would apply.
During the hearing, Justice Singh observed that while public figures are more exposed to scrutiny than ordinary individuals, such exposure is not without limits.
"You are in public life, you are certainly more vulnerable than the rest of the people, but it has its limitations," the Court remarked.
Examining one of the allegedly infringing links, the Court observed that the content appeared to be "borderline."
Gaggar further submitted that new infringing and pornographic content involving the actor continues to surface on a daily basis, necessitating a dynamic injunction that would enable prompt action against future violations without requiring repeated court intervention.
The suit states that cease-and-desist notices and legal complaints were issued to several intermediaries and entities, including online platforms and service providers. However, according to the plaintiff, many of them either failed to respond adequately or provided only partial compliance, resulting in the continued dissemination and monetization of the allegedly infringing material.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court issued summons in the suit and indicated that it would pass an interim order protecting the plaintiff's personality rights pending further proceedings.
The matter was led by Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar and briefed by Advocates Somdev Tiwari, Akash Deep Gupta, Siddharth C., Abhishek Nair and Vansh Shrivastav on behalf of Sarvoday Legal. (ANI)
(This article was generated from news agency ANI without modifications to the text.)
