In a significant victory for personal rights in the digital age, Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan has secured a major legal win. The Bombay High Court indicated it will pass an order directing the immediate takedown of online content violating his personality rights. Justice Sharmila Deshmukh's bench made the observation after the actor raised concerns over his personality rights being exploited.
This ruling places Aaryan along with other Indian stars, including Karan Johar, Jackie Shroff, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Anil Kapoor, and others, who have successfully sought legal protection for their personal rights in the era of digital exploitation.
This comes after Aaryan's lawyer, Senior Counsel Birendra Saraf, had raised concerns over the Bollywood actor's digital persona being misused. As per Bar and Bench, the legal representative also stated that Aaryan's image was used for commercial purposes and some of which were also "scandalous."
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"I want that order which your Ladyship has considered earlier, that upon my pointing out to them, they will remove it. I don't want them to do a suo motu enquiry or something. I will keep informing them whatever I come to know and they can remove it. He is a prominent actor, even his name has a trademark," stated Saraf.
"There are images being used to sell merchandise. There is artificial intelligence created videos. Some of these are quite bad and some of them are just affecting his personality. Some of them are scandalous."
Based on the plea from Aaryan's legal team, Justice Sharmila Deshmukh ordered appropriate actions favouring the actor to protect his personality rights.
Aaryan's lawsuit targeted a wide net of e-commerce giants and social media platforms, along with several 'John Doe' defendants, the anonymous figures behind unauthorised online content.
The message from the lawsuit was clear - his persona is not public property for companies to exploit for a quick profit. He is seeking a permanent injunction to stop anyone from using his voice, images, or videos to create fake endorsements.
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He is also asking the court to order digital mediators and the government to take action. Specifically, he wants them to remove the content that uses his persona without permission and also reveal the offenders exploiting his name.
Along with Saraf, advocates Ameet Naik and Madhu Gadodia represented Aaryan in court. The actor filed his case through the law firm Anand & Naik Company.
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