Delhi HC grants injunction in favour of Nagarjuna in personality rights case

New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) The Delhi High Court has granted an ad-interim injunction in favour of veteran actor Nagarjuna Akkineni, who is a tall figure in Telugu cinema, restraining multiple entities from misusing his name, image, likeness, and other attributes of his personality for commercial purposes.

A bench of Justice Tejas Karia passed the order in a suit filed by Nagarjuna seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against unauthorised use on websites, e-commerce platforms, and social media, including content generated through artificial intelligence (AI).

The actor’s lawyers emphasised that Nagarjuna, a celebrated figure in the South Indian film industry with over four decades of contributions and 95 feature films to his credit, has built considerable goodwill and reputation.

His persona, the plaintiff's legal team argued, carries immense commercial value, and any unauthorised exploitation could mislead the public, dilute his reputation, and conflict with existing endorsements.

In its order, Justice Karia observed that several defendants were engaged in hosting pornographic content, selling T-shirts, and other merchandise bearing Nagarjuna’s name and image without his consent.

Certain entities were also using AI, deepfakes, and other technological tools to generate inappropriate content featuring the actor.

The Delhi High Court observed that the exploitation of a celebrity’s personality rights can have severe consequences on their economic interests and personal dignity.

“The exploitation of one’s personality rights puts at risk not only their economic interests but also their right to live with dignity, potentially causing immeasurable harm to their reputation and goodwill,” it said.

Justice Karia directed all identified URLs to be taken down, blocked, or disabled within 72 hours. E-commerce platforms were asked to provide basic subscriber information of infringing sellers within two weeks in a sealed envelope.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications were also directed to issue necessary instructions to ensure the removal of infringing content.

The Delhi High Court underlined that depicting the plaintiff in misleading, derogatory, or inappropriate settings would inevitably dilute the goodwill and reputation of Nagarjuna. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on January 23, 2026.

--IANS

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