Delhi High Court Protects Personality Rights of Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan

The Delhi High Court has recently protected the personality rights of Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan, restraining several defendants from unauthorisedly using his name, image, voice and likeness for commercial exploitation.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the order on December 22, 2025, while dealing with a suit filed by Pawan Kalyan seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against misuse across e-commerce platforms, websites, social media, and artificial intelligence-based tools.

In his plea, the plaintiff submitted that various defendants, including unidentified entities, were exploiting his name and persona without consent by selling merchandise, hosting misleading event listings, and enabling AI generated content that replicated his voice, image and likeness for commercial gain.

After examining the pleadings and material on record, the Court found it prima facie evident that the defendants had engaged in unauthorised commercial use of the plaintiff’s personality attributes.

The Court observed that Defendant No. 1 and Defendant Nos. 7 to 9 were using the plaintiff’s name, likeness, image and voice for selling merchandise directly or through e commerce platforms. It further noted that Defendant No. 10 was using the plaintiff’s name and image without consent for commercial gains, while Defendant Nos. 11 and 12 were using the plaintiff’s personality attributes through AI software on their webpages without authorisation.

“Such unauthorised use of the Plaintiff’s attributes by these infringing Defendants, prima facie, amounts to violation of the Plaintiff’s personality rights,” the Court held.

The Court further observed that the balance of convenience lay in favour of the plaintiff and that the continuing availability of infringing content would cause irreparable injury. It held that the plaintiff had made out a case for grant of an ex parte ad interim injunction.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate J. Sai Deepak appeared for the plaintiff and submitted that unknown infringers were using the e commerce platforms of Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho to unauthorisedly sell infringing merchandise including T shirts, hoodies, stickers and fan merchandise bearing identifiers such as “Pawan Kalyan”, “Power Star” and “PSPK”, which are uniquely associated with the plaintiff.

It was further submitted that certain webpages were permitting their artificial intelligence software to use the plaintiff’s personality attributes, while unknown users on social media platforms were circulating manipulated content, impersonation accounts and AI-generated outputs, resulting in public deception and commercial exploitation.

While considering the case, the Court recorded that Pawan Kalyan is a well known public figure who has enjoyed a distinguished career in South Indian cinema for over three decades and is presently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The Court noted that he has gained substantial commercial brand value in his name, image, voice and likeness and enjoys millions of followers across various social media platforms, demonstrating his reach and influence.

Accordingly, the Court restrained Defendant Nos. 7 to 12 and Defendant No. 1, along with their associates, servants, agents and representatives, from violating the plaintiff’s personality rights by using or exploiting his name, images, likeness or voice for any commercial gain, including through artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, machine learning, deepfakes, morphing or digital editing, across all physical and virtual mediums.

With respect to social media fan accounts, the Court clarified that subject to the account owners specifically including a disclaimer on the profile description stating that it is a “fan account”, no further action of take down is required. The Court directed that such account owners shall comply within one week, failing which Meta Platforms was directed to make the said accounts inactive until compliance is ensured. To facilitate implementation, Meta was directed to communicate the Court’s directions to the respective Instagram account owners.

In addition, the Court directed Meta Platforms and Google to provide Basic Subscriber Information and IP login details of the URLs attributed to them, as enlisted in Annexure B to the order, within a period of three weeks.

The matter has been listed before the Court on 12.05.2026.

Case Title: Mr Konidala Pawan Kalyan Vs Ashok Kumar John Doe & Ors.

Bench: Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora

Order Date: 22 December 2025