Delhi High Court to Protect Personality Rights of Telugu Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna
The leading Indian law firm, Anand and Anand, represented Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna in securing protection for his personality rights from the Delhi High Court.
Appearing before Justice Tejas Karia, Nagarjuna’s counsel submitted that the actor’s name, image, and likeness were being misused without authorisation on social media platforms, in merchandise, and through AI-generated morphed content.
While considering the plea, Justice Karia observed:
“The correct way is… you have identified the URLs. They (intermediaries) can be asked to take those links down. You have identified three categories. As of now you have identified 14 URLs.”
During the hearing, the Court also raised concerns about the longevity of such injunctions,
“That’s the thing. These personalities have a very long life of fame. How long can these injunctions continue?”
However, Justice Karia assured that appropriate directions would follow:
“Okay, we will pass an order.”
Representing Nagarjuna, Advocate Pravin Anand, assisted by Vaishali Mittal, Vibhav Mithal, and Shivang, highlighted the reputational risk posed by unauthorised and AI-generated content. Anand specifically argued:
“He (Nagarjuna) has 95 films, two national awards. He is quite a reported person in the Telugu industry. He is called the celluloid scientist because of the versatile nature of his acting style … He has over 6 million followers on Twitter. On Facebook, 8.1 million followers … The first activity we are complaining about is pornographic content about him. The second activity is merchandising. The third activity is AI-generated content. These are YouTube shorts and there are videos. They are paid promotions. They have hashtags, Nagarjuna hashtags.”
He further cautioned
“The worst is that this video content can be used to train AI models according to the YouTube policy. They are actually helping in propagation of the illegal content.”
To this, the Court observed
“That is true for all kinds of generative AI. Once it is part of larger internet, generative AI can use it…. Your argument is that because this is fake, generative AI can further use it … AI is AI, it won’t know what is genuine or not.”
Nagarjuna, a veteran actor with over 95 films and two national awards, commands a strong public presence, boasting 6 million followers on Twitter and 8.1 million on Facebook. Known as the “celluloid scientist” for his versatility, he is one of the most celebrated figures in Telugu cinema.
This case follows a string of similar suits instituted by celebrities such as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and other ones, in which the Delhi High Court has consistently issued injunctions restraining the unauthorised exploitation of celebrity personality rights.
Anand and Anand represented Nagarjuna through Advocates Pravin Anand, Vaishali Mittal, Vibhav Mithal, and Shivang.
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