Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on Tuesday urged Delhi High Court to safeguard her personality rights, raising objections to the unauthorised use of her name, images and AI-generated content.
The court was convinced of her grievances and hinted at passing an ad-interim order preventing misuse of her photos, among others.
Orally indicating that it will pass a restraining order, Justice Tejas Karia said: “There are only 151 URLs which will form part of the order. We will pass orders against each of the defendants because the prayers are broad. But we will grant injunctions separately.”
Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Aishwarya, told the court that the actor seeks to enforce her publicity and personality rights, citing instances where her name and images had been misused and morphed online. He also submitted that some objectionable photographs were also being circulated.
Sethi took the court through some of the defendant entities that are selling coffee mugs, tees and other articles for commercial gain without consent and legal authorisation.
“There can be no right in their favour to use her images, likeness or persona. A gentleman is collecting money merely by putting her name and face,” Sethi said. “Her name and likeness are being used to satisfy someone’s sexual desires,” he added, calling it
very unfortunate.
Sethi cited the instance of actor Anil Kapoor, on whose plea Delhi High Court had passed a similar restraining order. In 2023, the court restrained the misuse of the name, image, voice and other attributes of Anil’s persona, including his characteristic use of the word “jhakkaas”, for commercial gain.
Aishwarya’s advocate told the court that some entities are collecting money by
falsely claiming association with them.