Vivek Oberoi Moves Delhi High Court Over AI, Deepfake Misuse of Personality Rights

Actor Vivek Oberoi has filed a commercial suit before the Delhi High Court seeking an injunction against the alleged infringement of his publicity and personality rights, including the unauthorised use of his name, image, voice, and likeness for commercial and personal gain.

The suit has been filed through Advocate Sana Raees Khan.

The suit has been instituted against several entities, including Collector Bazar, ZoomMantra, Indiacontent, WattPad and Bollywood Movie Posters, alleging impersonation of the actor on social media platforms, sale of unauthorised merchandise bearing his name and image, and the creation and dissemination of AI-generated and deepfake content falsely depicting him in insulting and demeaning ways.

Oberoi has sought protection of his personality and publicity rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, performer's and moral rights under the Copyright Act, 1957, and common law rights against misappropriation, passing off, and unfair competition.

He has also sought leave to initiate action against unknown defendants, described as John Doe parties, who are unidentified infringers.

Raising concerns over the unchecked use of generative artificial intelligence, the plea states that such misuse can cause public confusion over endorsements, result in passing off, dilute an individual's persona, infringe privacy rights and adversely affect licensing opportunities.

“The infringing activities of the Defendants/unidentified parties are being made available to the public at large, leading to a large-scale and unbridled infringement of the Plaintiff's publicity and/or personality rights on a regular and extensive basis, and as such, it is impossible for the Plaintiff to keep track of the identity of the infringers,” the plea says.

Oberoi has claimed that he has already suffered and is likely to suffer incalculable loss to his goodwill, business interests and reputation due to the alleged violations.

The suit is yet to be listed before the Delhi High Court.