Delhi HC Protects Abhishek Bachchan’s Personality Rights, Bars Unauthorised Use

The Delhi High Court on Thursday, September 10, passed an interim injunction protecting the personality rights of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan.

Justice Tejas Karia, in a detailed 16-page order, restrained several defendants from misusing Bachchan’s voice, image, likeness and other attributes of his persona for any commercial or personal gain without his consent or authorization.

During the hearing, Bachchan’s counsel emphasised that the actor, being a well-known celebrity, had approached the court to safeguard his personality rights, copyright, and to prevent misappropriation through passing off. Senior counsel Pravin Anand further contended that artificial intelligence was being misused to create sexually objectionable content involving the actor.

The Court observed that the use of technology to depict the actor in misleading, derogatory or inappropriate settings intrudes upon his right to privacy, and that such misappropriation is aggravated by the ease of online dissemination. Noting that Bachchan is a celebrated figure in the Indian entertainment industry with significant goodwill and reputation, the Court held that any infringement of his personality rights would dilute his reputation and cause confusion among the public regarding endorsement or sponsorship.

“The misuse of the Plaintiff’s name, image, likeness and other elements of the Plaintiff’s persona clearly constitutes infringement… without any authorization from the Plaintiff, [it] will inevitably cause confusion and create a perception of endorsement,” the Court said while warning that irreparable loss and injury would be caused to his goodwill, reputation and dignity if relief was not granted.

The actor told the court that his images had been used without consent and circulated across multiple platforms, including through the sale of merchandise and AI-generated videos on social media.

The bench was also presented with instances of such impugned content. Bachchan urged the court to restrain platforms from exploiting his personality attributes without consent, submitting that the misappropriation of his persona, name, likeness, image, voice, signature, and artistic performances for commercial advantage or personal gain amounted to a violation of his rights.

The bench noted that the defendants’ business model was aimed at illegally monetising the actor’s persona and likeness, without his consent, through the sale of merchandise and circulation of AI-generated videos. Such activities, the Court said, harmed not just his economic interests but also his dignity, potentially causing irreversible damage to his goodwill.

“The entire business model of Defendant Nos. 1 to 14 and 18 is designed to illegally monetize the Plaintiff’s persona/likeness for their personal gain. Such infringing activities are without the Plaintiff’s consent and the Plaintiff is also uncertain of the quality of goods and/or services being provided by way of such infringing activities," the Court remarked.

Finding that Bachchan had established a prima facie case, the Court held that the balance of convenience lay in his favour and that an injunction was necessary to prevent irreparable harm.

Accordingly, the Court restrained Defendants 1–14 and 18 from using or misappropriating Bachchan’s name, acronym “AB”, voice, image, likeness, signature, performances or other attributes of his persona, including through AI, generative AI, deepfakes or face morphing. Defendants were also barred from creating or disseminating products or content that dilute his persona.

It further directed Google LLC to take down infringing URLs within 72 hours and to provide basic subscriber information within seven days. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications were ordered to block infringing URLs within the same period.

The matter will be next heard on January 15, 2026.

Notably, the High Court has recently passed a similar order in a plea moved by Bachchan’s wife, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, protecting her personality and publicity rights, restraining misuse of her name, image and likeness, including through artificial intelligence.

For Plaintiff: Mr. Pravin Anand, Mr. Ameet Naik, Ms. Madhu Gadodia, Mr. Dhruv Anand, Ms. Udita Patro, Ms. Nimrat Singh, Ms. Deevesha Tudekar, Mr. Dhananjay Khanna & Ms. Aayushi Udani, Advocates.

Case Title: Abhishek Bachchan v. The Bollywood Tee Shop and ors

Hearing Date: 10 September 2025

Bench: Justice Tejas Karia