Nagarjuna has been granted protection by the Delhi High Court over his personality rights being misused. The actor took to X to express his gratitude over the same
Nagarjuna
Telugu cinema icon Nagarjuna Akkineni recently won a crucial protection from the Delhi High Court. The court reportedly agreed to protect his personality and publicity rights after he flagged the unauthorised use of his name, image and voice online.
Delhi High Court protect Nagarjuna's personality rights
The court’s move came as a result of Nagarjuna’s plea, which cited serious misuse of his identity, including pornographic content, unauthorised merchandising and AI-generated videos, according to Bar and Bench. The hearing was held on Thursday, and where Justice Tejas Karia stressed the importance of protecting such rights in today’s fast-evolving technological landscape.
“The correct way is that you have identified the URLs. They (intermediaries) can be asked to take those links down. You have identified three categories. As of now, you have identified 14 URLs,” Justice Karia noted, while also questioning the longevity of such injunctions given the “long life of fame” that public celebrities enjoy.
Bar and Bench noted that Nagarjuna’s counsel, Pravin Anand, highlighted the risks, explaining that AI-generated content using the actor’s likeness was circulated online and even monetised. “The worst is that this video content can be used to train AI models according to YouTube’s policy. They are actually helping in the propagation of the illegal content,” he said.
The bench acknowledged the challenge, stating, “That is true for all kinds of generative AI. Once it is part of the larger internet, AI can use it. AI is AI, it won’t know what is genuine or not.”
Advocate Pravin Anand, who appeared for the actor, reportedly submitted that Nagarjuna, who has 95 films to his credit and two national awards, enjoys a formidable reputation in the Telugu film industry. His large online presence, with more than six million followers on X and over eight million on Facebook, was also highlighted. The petition mainly flagged three categories of violations, namely, pornographic content falsely attributed to him, unauthorised merchandising, and AI-generated material misusing his likeness.
Nagarjuna expresses gratitude
Nagarjuna took to his X account to express gratitude and wrote, "Grateful to the Hon'ble Delhi High Court for protecting my personality rights in today's digital age. The vital legal strategy and arguments were led by Senior Counsel Mr. Vaibhav Gaggar, and Mr. Pravin Anand alongwith Ms. Vaishali, Mr. Somdev, and Mr. Vibhav." (sic)
"Thank you for standing by me," he added.
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