Delhi High Court protects personality rights of actor Kriti Sanon
The court restrained third parties from using AI-generated content and morphed images to infringe upon the actor's privacy and publicity rights.
The Delhi High Court has restrained third parties from infringing on the personality rights of actor Kriti Sanon by posting AI-generated content online, according to reports by Hindustan Times, Rediff and Deccan Herald. The order includes a ban on the use of morphed or sexually explicit images, videos, and audio, as well as impersonation through voice models or chatbots.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav passed the interim order on October 29 following a lawsuit filed by Sanon. The actor alleged that unknown persons violated her privacy and publicity rights, which would cause irreparable injury. The court directed the removal of infringing content from online platforms.
Sanon's counsel argued that her name, likeness, and voice were being misused for selling merchandise, offering fake appearance bookings, and creating synthetic voice models and prompt-based images. It was noted that various accounts on platforms including YouTube, Facebook, X, and Pinterest were circulating morphed and AI-generated images.
Justice Kaurav stated that the content in question appropriated the commercial value of the actor's identity and affronted her dignity. The court also prohibited an online seller from offering merchandise featuring attributes of Sanon's persona, noting that some products allegedly used images from her personal life.
The interim order clarified that there is no restriction on news, reviews, criticism, satire, parody, or fan expressions that do not fall within the specified infringing categories. Other public figures, including Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, have previously received similar interim relief from the court.