Bombay High Court Indicates It Will Pass Order Protecting Kartik Aaryan's Personality Rights

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday indicated that it will pass an order protecting the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan, according to his counsel, who spoke to Live LawBiz.

The relief would bein a suit alleging widespread digital misuse of his likeness through AI-generated content and unauthorised merchandise.

The matter was heard by Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh.

Aaryan has moved the High Court seeking a broad John Doe injunction against 16 defendants, including e-commerce platforms, social media intermediaries, and unknown entities, alleging unauthorised commercial and non-commercial exploitation of his identity.

Central to the actor's plea is the alleged misuse of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and deepfake tools to tarnish his reputation. The plaint states that several YouTube and Instagram accounts have used AI to create synthetic content falsely associating him romantically with other film personalities and depicting him in “lewd, obscene and derogatory fake acts”.

“Artificial Intelligence and Deepfake technology are being used by the Defendants to misuse the person's image, likeness, name etc. for the purpose of gaining views and liked on their own YouTube channels, Instagram handles and Facebook profiles. The Defendants' use of the Plaintiff's image, likeness, name etc. violate the dignity and integrity of the Plaintiff by portraying him in a repugnant manner, subjecting him to humiliation for the sake of cheap humor, or by portraying him in an obscene setting,” the plaint states.

One instance cited in the suit involves AI-generated images falsely linking the actor to “globally infamous sex offenders” such as Jeffrey Epstein.

The suit also flags the commercial exploitation of Aaryan's persona on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart and Redbubble, where merchandise including t-shirts, cups, frames and tote bags bearing his name and image are allegedly being sold without authorisation.

According to the plaint, Aaryan is the registered proprietor of the trademark “KARTIK AARYAN," and his name, image, voice and likeness have acquired distinctiveness and commercial value.

“The Plaintiffs name, image, voice, likeness, and other indicia of identity have acquired inherent distinctiveness and are exclusively associated in the minds of the public with him. These attributes constitute valuable proprietary and commercial assets, the unauthorized exploitation of which causes immediate and irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs personality and goodwill,” the filing states.

The actor has also raised concerns over AI-powered chatbots hosted on websites such as talkie-ai.com, which allegedly mimic his voice to simulate conversations with users, warning that such tools could be misused for fraudulent activities.

Represented by Anand & Naik, Aaryan has sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from using his name, voice, signature or “unique style of dialogue delivery” for any commercial purpose, along with damages of Rs 15 crore for alleged commercial misappropriation and loss of reputation.