The Delhi High Court has given temporary relief to the Telugu star Allu Arjungranting an ex parte ad-denim injunction protecting his identity rights against unauthorized commercial use. The order prevents various parties from exploiting its identity through artificial intelligence, including deepfakes, and also from selling infringing goods.Presiding over the matter, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said the actor’s name, image, voice, dialogue delivery, gestures and other distinctive features are associated with him and are classified as protected personality rights, according to the Bar and Bench. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by the actress, challenging the unauthorized use of her character for commercial gain without her consent.Acknowledging his wide popularity, the Court observed that Arjun’s iconic dialogues and distinctive style reinforce his stature. “The said documentary evidence etc. clearly show that the unique and distinctive characteristics of the plaintiff are exclusive to the plaintiff and are source identifiers of the plaintiff. Such as name, appearance, voice, mode of conversation, gestures, clothes, speech, signature, likeness, clearly, the exclusive rights of the plaintiff would be the exclusive rights of the plaintiff, “exclusive rights over the exploitation of which the plaintiff does not have”. In the past, the court has protected the personality rights of celebrities like Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amitabh BachchanSanu Kumar, Salman KhanKaran Johar, Nagarjuna, Kartik Aarya among others
