Nagarjuna expresses "gratitude" as Delhi High Court offers protection to personality rights

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 26 (ANI): Telugu actor Nagarjuna has expressed gratitude to the Delhi High Court for offering protection to his personality rights.

Nagarjuna, who previously approached the court against the misuse of his identity on the digital platforms, took to his X handle and wrote, “Grateful to the Hon’ble Delhi High Court for protecting my personality rights in today’s digital age.”

He also mentioned his legal team and added, “The vital legal strategy and arguments were led by Senior Counsel Mr. Vaibhav Gaggar, and Mr. Pravin Anand alongwith Ms. Vaishali, Mr. Somdev, and Mr. Vibhav. Thank you for standing by me.”

On Thursday, the Delhi High Court was set to pass orders on whether to grant ad-interim relief to Nagarjuna. The plea came up before Justice Tejas Karia.

The petition flagged three categories of violations: pornographic content falsely attributed to him, unauthorised merchandising, and AI-generated material misusing his likeness.

Counsel pointed to YouTube shorts and paid promotional videos that use hashtags linked to Nagarjuna and warned that such content could further be used to train artificial intelligence models.

The Court observed that once material is uploaded on the internet, generative AI models can pick it up regardless of its authenticity. While noting that specific URLs, 14 identified so far, can be directed to be taken down, Justice Karia also remarked on the broader question of how long such injunctions can reasonably continue, given the enduring fame of public figures.

Appearing for the actor, Advocate Pravin Anand submitted that Nagarjuna, with 95 films to his credit and two national awards, enjoys a formidable reputation in the Telugu film industry.

Widely referred to as a “celluloid scientist” for his versatility, he is also celebrated for his role in Shiva, which Anand said changed the course of Indian cinema. The actor’s large online presence, over six million followers on X and more than eight million on Facebook, was also highlighted.

In line with its efforts to protect celebrity rights in the online space, the Delhi High Court restrained various websites and platforms from violating the publicity and personality rights of Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Karan Johar. It prohibited the respondents from misusing their names, images, voices, acronyms, likenesses, or any attributes uniquely identifiable with them. (ANI)

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