Delhi High Court To Pass Interim Order Protecting Actor Allu Arjun's Personality Rights

The Delhi High Court on Friday said it will pass interim orders in a personality rights suit filed by Telugu actor Allu Arjun, who seeks to restrain the unauthorized use of his name, likeness, and signature for commercial gain.

Presiding over the matter, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela heard arguments on alleged infringement of the actor's personality rights, with the case focusing on specific instances of misuse of artificial intelligence tools such as voice cloning and fake video call applications.

During the hearing, the court briefly examined the issue of jurisdiction, with Justice Gedela questioning why the suit had been filed in Delhi when the actor resided in Hyderabad, remarking, “No, why are you here? There are five states in between.”

The suit seeks the takedown of pornographic and obscene content featuring the actor, along with other infringing material. The Court noted the presence of multiple parties, including entities dealing in obscene content, voice cloning, and AI-based applications, some of which had earlier come under judicial scrutiny.

The hearing centered on the misuse of artificial intelligence to impersonate the Pushpa actor. His counsel, Senior Advocate Swati Sukumar, flagged several parties engaged in voice cloning and the creation of a “fake call Pushpa app”.

Counsel specifically targeted Frankly Retail Private Limited and other entities for selling T-shirts and mugs bearing the actor's face and signature. “The signatures are there on the plaintiff's face as well as his registered trademark... I have 26 registered trademarks,” counsel submitted, adding that the actor's claims are supported by registered trademarks rather than resting purely on common law.

Highlighting the risks posed by such technology, counsel argued, “What is frightening, truly... is that they have made an app which enables you to speak to the likeness, AI likeness of this person,” warning that it creates “fertile ground for any kind of scam which involves the plaintiff”.

The Court was shown material depicting a fake video call and chat interface that allows users to interact with a digital version of the actor.

Appearing for Frankly Retail Private Limited, Advocate Shubh Kapoor submitted that his client functions as an intermediary and had removed the infringing URLs within 25 minutes of receiving notice.

Meanwhile, platforms such as Meta participated in the proceedings on the issue of identification of specific links. Meta pointed out that certain URLs cited in the documents were incorrectly attributed and in fact belonged to X.

The actor's request for global de-indexing of infringing apps was declined at this stage, with Justice Gedela clarifying, “Global, we are not granting right now."

The court noted that de-indexing is distinct from removal, with counsel explaining, “De-indexing is when it doesn't appear at all. Not that when you click on it, it leads to a blank page”.

The court has also directed Frankly Retail Private Limited to file a reply affidavit of compliance within three working days.