Bombay High Court Protects Kartik Aaryan's Personality Rights, Orders Removal Of Infringing Content

The Bombay High Court has granted temporary relief to actor Kartik Aaryan, restraining identified and unidentified defendants from unauthorised use of his name, image, voice and likeness across websites, social media platforms, AI-generated content and chatbots, holding that such use prima facie violates his personality/publicity rights and right to privacy.

In an order dated April 15, 2026, Justice Sharmila U. Deshmukh found a prima facie case of violation of personality and publicity rights, observing that such unauthorised use leads to unjust commercial enrichment and harms the actor's reputation. The court observed:

“Such unauthorized use does not only lead to unjust commercial enrichment but also infringes on the individual personality rights and in cases of a pornographic content, tarnishes the Plaintiff's reputation and goodwill. The material on record prima facie makes out a case of violation of the Plaintiff's personality/publicity rights and right to privacy. .”

Aaryan approached the high court alleging that several entities were exploiting his personality attributes by selling unauthorised merchandise, running fake booking platforms falsely offering to arrange his appearances, and creating AI-generated videos, including pornographic and manipulated content, suggesting his association. He also pointed to misuse through chatbot platforms that enable users to interact with a digital persona mimicking him.

The court noted that the actor is a well-known public figure with significant goodwill, brand endorsements and a wide fan following, and that his registered trademark “Kartik Aaryan” has come to be identified with him. It observed that such unauthorised use was likely to mislead the public, falsely suggest association, and commercially exploit his reputation. Holding that such exploitation diminishes the plaintiff's brand value, the court said:

“The unauthorised use of the Plaintiff's personality right for commercial purpose has the effect of diminishing the Plaintiff's brand value.”

The court further noted that sexually explicit AI-generated content placed before it was prima facie prejudicial to the actor's reputation and required urgent deletion. Referring to AI chatbot platforms, it observed:

“This Court has perused the sexually explicit AI generated content tendered in a sealed envelope which is prima facie prejudicial to the Plaintiff's reputation. The obscene and disparaging content uploaded on public viewing platform needs urgent deletion/delisting. Insofar as the artificial intelligence chat-bot platform is concerned, such platform permits the user to chat with the chat-bot which responds as the Plaintiff would.”

Accordingly, the court directed intermediaries to remove or disable access to infringing content within 36 hours upon being notified by the plaintiff or his representative, subject to their right to raise objections, and restrained the defendants from further misuse. The matter has been listed for further hearing on June 10, 2026.