The Delhi High Court has granted protection to Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s personality rights, restraining online platforms from unauthorisedly exploiting her name, photographs, likeness, or AI-generated content for commercial purposes.
Justice Tejas Karia, in an order dated September 9 (released on Thursday), emphasised that misuse of a celebrity’s identity without consent not only causes financial detriment but also affects the individual’s right to live with dignity.
“The courts in such cases of unauthorised exploitation of one’s personality rights, cannot turn a blind eye and shall protect the aggrieved parties so as to avert any harm to them resulting from the said unauthorised exploitation,” the judge observed.
The court noted that Rai had established a prima facie case for an ex-parte injunction, observing that the balance of convenience lay in her favour. It warned that if relief was denied, it would result in “irreparable loss/harm to the plaintiff and her family, not only financially, but also with respect to her right to live with dignity.”
The interim order was passed on Rai’s plea seeking to safeguard her personality rights and restrain the sale and circulation of unauthorised products, content, and AI-generated pornographic material using her identity.
The suit covers misappropriation of various aspects of Rai’s personality, including her name, image, likeness, persona, voice, and unique style of dialogue delivery. The petition alleged that several websites and e-commerce platforms were illegally profiting from her identity without consent.
Among the defendants named in the case are:
- Websites: aishwaryaworld.com, apkpure.com, bollywoodteeshop.com, kashcollectiveco.com
- Platforms/Entities: e-commerce platform Etsy, “Aishwarya Nation Wealth Motivational Speaker,” chatbot portal jainatorai.com, and YouTube channels @NewNWSTamil and @Bollywood_CinemaTV07
- Tech & Regulatory bodies: Google LLC, Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Department of Telecommunications.
The court underlined that the right to publicity—commonly known as personality rights—allows an individual to protect, control, and profit from the commercial use of their identity.
Rai’s plea specifically sought protection for her name, voice, image, likeness, persona, unique style, and signature against misuse for profit-making ventures.
