Karan Johar Approaches Delhi HC Seeking Protection of Personality Rights

Filmmaker, producer and television personality Karan Johar has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against unauthorised commercial exploitation.

The matter came up before a single-judge bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora. Senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, appearing for Johar, argued that his client had a fundamental right to prevent misuse of his persona. “I have a right to ensure that no one unauthorisedly uses my persona, face or voice,” Rao submitted on behalf of the filmmaker.

The bench sought certain clarifications from Johar’s counsel during the hearing and listed the matter for further consideration at 4 p.m.

Johar has specifically sought directions restraining several websites and online platforms from selling merchandise such as mugs, t-shirts and other products carrying his name, image and likeness. He contended that such unauthorized actions not only violate his publicity rights but also amount to misrepresentation before the public.

Johar’s plea comes after actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan filed similar petitions in the Delhi High Court, saying their names and photographs were being misused on products and online platforms without permission.

While granting relief to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the court had earlier observed, “Personality Rights of individuals, simply put, entail the right to control and protect the exploitation of one’s image, name, likeness or other attributes of the individuals’ personality, in addition to the commercial gains that can be derived from the same. Personality Rights can be located in the individuals’ autonomy to permit or deny the exploitation of the likeness of other attributes of their personality.”

The court also remarked, “When the identity of a famous personality is used without their consent or authorization, it may not only lead to commercial detriment to the concerned individual but also impact their right to live with dignity. In other words, the unauthorized exploitation of the attributes of an individual’s personality may have two facets – first, violation of their right to protect their personality attributes from being commercially exploited; and second, violation of their right to privacy, which in turn leads to undermining their right to live with dignity.”

Rai drew parallels with the 2023 case of actor Anil Kapoor, where the Delhi High Court granted an ex parte injunction restraining unauthorized use of Kapoor’s name, voice, image and likeness, including his trademark expression “Jhakaas”,especially in the context of AI-driven manipulation.

Consequently, the court restrained defendants from misappropriating Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s name, image or likeness and from passing off goods as if endorsed by her. The restriction was made applicable even to Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Machine Learning, Deepfakes or Face Morphing, across any medium, without her consent.

Similar relief was extended to Abhishek Bachchan, with the court holding that misuse of his identity through technology in misleading or derogatory contexts intruded upon his privacy and dignity.

Johar’s case will again be taken up for hearing later today at 4 PM.

Case Title: Karan Johar v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors

Hearing Date: 15 September 2025

Bench: Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora

With PTI inputs