Vijay Deverakonda gets Delhi HC protection against AI deepfakes and misuse of his identity

The Delhi High Court has restrained the unauthorised use of actor Vijay Deverakondarsquos name image voice and other personality attributes including through artificial intelligence AI deepfakes and facemorphing technology without his consentJustice Vikas Mahajan also directed social media platforms Meta Google and X to remove and permanently take down content identified by the actor including videos reels posts accounts and channels that allegedly misuse or imitate his personaThe court directed online marketplaces to remove the identified infringing links within 72 hours of receiving a copy of the order Domain name registrars were also directed to lock and suspend specified domains within the same periodThe Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications were directed to issue necessary notifications or directions to internet and telecom service providers to block or remove access to the websites listed in the order within 72 hours of receiving a copyThe court directed the concerned entities to file compliance affidavits within two weeks as specified in the orderThe court observed that Deverakonda had made out a prima facie strong case for protection of his personality rights and that the balance of convenience favoured him It said the apprehension of damage to his image and personality appeared real and that the injury might not be adequately compensated through monetary damagesThe actor had approached the court alleging unauthorised commercial use of his name photographs voice and other distinctive attributes besides the circulation of AIgenerated and morphed videos portraying him in obscene vulgar and objectionable situationsThe interim restraint covers the use of his name including lsquoVijay Deverakondarsquo lsquoVijay Devarakondarsquo and lsquoVijay Sai Deverakondarsquo his initials lsquoVDrsquo voice recordings signatures fashion style photographs movie stills and performancesHowever the court declined to grant an exparte interim injunction against the standalone use of the colloquial name lsquoRowdyrsquo on the ground of passing off observing that material would be required to establish that the expression had acquired distinctiveness or a secondary meaning exclusively associated with the actor It clarified that using an AIgenerated or morphed image of the actor along with the expression lsquoRowdyrsquo would fall within the scope of protection of his personality rightsThe court also permitted the concerned online platforms to seek clarification from the actor regarding how the identified URLs fall within the scope of the order Websites or social media accounts that are not primarily infringing may approach the court with an undertaking that they do not intend to violate his personality rights and seek modification of the injunctionThe court issued notice to the defendants and directed them to file replies within four weeks The matter will next be heard before the Joint Registrar on December 3 for completion of service and pleadings and before the court on February 2 2027This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever