Abhishek Bachchan’s personality rights— and dignity — get Delhi High Court shield

The Delhi High Court on 12 September, Friday, has issued a strong order protecting Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan’s personality rights, barring several websites and online platforms from using his name, image or other aspects of his persona for commercial benefit without his explicit consent.

Justice Tejas Karia, in a prior 10 September order, had already found clear evidence that elements of Bachchan's identity — including his name, signature and likeness — were being misappropriated by the defendants through unauthorised technological means such as AI manipulation.

“These attributes are linked to the plaintiff’s professional work and associations in the course of his career. The unauthorised use of such attributes has the effect of diluting the goodwill and reputation associated with him,” Justice Karia stated.

The Court recognised the significant goodwill Bachchan has built in the entertainment industry, ruling that if an injunction were not granted, it would result in “irreparable loss or harm to the plaintiff and his family, not only financially but also with respect to his right to live with dignity”.

Acting on Bachchan’s plea — which sought to restrain defendants from leveraging his name, voice, images and AI-generated or sexually explicit content for profit — the court imposed an interim injunction. This order extends to the creation or commercial sharing of Bachchan-related products, such as clothing, mugs, posters and audio-visual content, without his approval.

The court has also reinforced that “unauthorised commercial exploitation of personality rights directly impacts the economic interests and dignity of the individual concerned, potentially causing irreversible injury to their reputation and goodwill”.

In this case, the balance of convenience favoured Bachchan, whose right to privacy and publicity had been infringed upon.

The court also directed Google LLC to promptly disable and remove all infringing URLs identified in the application and submit subscriber details related to the named accounts. The ministry of electronics and information technology as well as the department of telecommunications are required to ensure the blocking of these URLs.

Notably, a similar order was passed for Bachchan’s wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, just a day earlier, further strengthening legal recognition for the protection of personality and publicity rights in India’s digital era.

The growing problem of AI-generated content and ‘deepfake’ technology was directly addressed by the court, recognising how such tools aggravate the risks and impact surrounding celebrity image misuse.

Bachchan’s plea had named numerous defendant websites, e-commerce platforms and YouTube channels accused of misappropriation for commercial gain. The court’s decision underscores the seriousness of personality rights violations and cements the principle that the commercialisation of a public figure’s image, name or likeness — especially via technology — requires clear authorisation in law.