File photo of actor Naga Chaitanya.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU
The Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of Telugu actor Akkineni Naga Chaitanya restraining several websites, online platforms from unauthorised commercial use of his name, image, likeness and creating deepfake inappropriate content using artificial intelligence (AI).
Justice Jyoti Singh, in an interim order passed on May 29, restrained third parties from selling merchandise bearing Mr. Chaitanya’s name and image without consent, and directed the removal of the objectionable content from online platforms.
The actor’s counsel informed the court that several websites were hosting pornographic video content using Mr. Chaitanya’s name as a category or tag, which was causing irreparable harm to his reputation.
He further said some parties were selling merchandise bearing his likeness, and YouTube videos and channels were carrying defamatory, AI-generated and otherwise unauthorised content in violation of the film star’s personality and publicity rights.
The court noted that Mr. Chaitanya, the son of veteran actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, is unquestionably a renowned actor in the Indian film industry with an illustrious career spanning over 15 years.
“Plaintiff (Mr. Chaitanya) also has the right to protect his name, likeness, voice and image, which are elements and attributes of his persona and personality and no third party has a right to use these attributes without his authorisation,” it said.
‘Pornographic content’
On the issue of pornographic content using his name and likeness, the court said Mr. Chaitanya is “entitled to protection against dissemination of pornographic content as well as AI-generated images portraying him in an inappropriate scenario”.
“Such a distasteful content is harming and damaging the reputation of the Plaintiff and may mislead the public into believing what is depicted may be true. Plaintiff’s right to restrain third parties from infringing and passing off also needs to be preserved,” it added.
Other personalities
Several public figures, like actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani had earlier approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. The high court granted them interim relief.
Recently, the high court also protected the personality rights of politician Shashi Tharoor, cricketer Gautam Gambhir and actors Sonakshi Sinha, Vivek Oberoi, Arun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Allu Arjun by granting interim relief.
Published – June 04, 2026 06:12 pm IST
