Adding her name to a growing list of Indian public figures who have been taking legal recourse against such issues in the age of technology, the Bollywood actress Tabu has now made the Delhi High Court take notice of her personality and publicity rights.
The case filed by Tabu deals with the emerging issue of AI being used without any authorization for commercial purposes via celebrities’ identities.
Why did Tabu file a petition in the Delhi High Court?
Tabu’s lawsuit is an effort to protect herself from being used by people, digital channels, and third-party commercial enterprises. In this case, Tabu has made a petition for a broad injunction covering several concerns.
The lawsuit involves protection against any unauthorized AI-created deepfakes and impersonations including digital representations, face-swapping, or manipulated images in such a way that they represent Tabu in a false manner. Also, Tabu’s plea covers voice cloning and fake endorsements involving the use of the actor’s voice and features for promoting commercial products/services without any license agreement. In addition, Tabu is trying to stop the use of her name, photographs, and likeness in merchandize, domain names, and third-party websites.
Swathi Sukumar, Senior Advocate representing Tabu, says that unchecked digital misuse will damage the reputation and commercial value of the actor along with misleading the general public.
What happened during the Delhi High Court hearing?
The case was heard by a single bench comprising Justice Jyoti Singh. In the course of hearing, some flaws were pointed out in the first set of documents filed.
Justice Singh observed that there were problems in the memo of parties, which did not contain all the details about the accused parties. It was observed that for proper adjudication of the case, the details of parties have to be clearly stated. Therefore, the court ordered that Tabu’s attorneys should file a new memo of parties. As a result, the hearing was adjourned to August 6.
In the process, the duties of the digital intermediaries and domain registrars were also debated. Counsel representing Meta mentioned that the intermediaries could not take a call on the defamatory nature of content without court orders, whereas GoDaddy, a domain registrar, spoke about technicalities regarding suspension of domains and individual URLs.
How does this fit into the broader trend of celebrity personality rights in India?
The legal manoeuvring by Tabu indicates an alarming escalation of cases involving personality rights in India. With AI technology making it possible to create realistic deepfakes, the Delhi High Court stands out as one such forum where celebrities fight to protect their online persona.
A few celebrities who recently filed cases or were granted general injunctions before the Delhi High Court against deepfakes and identity theft include Kajol, Allu Arjun, R. Madhavan, Mohanlal, Varun Dhawan, and Salman Khan, apart from personalities like Sunil Gavaskar, Shashi Tharoor, and Aman Gupta.
The case filed by Tabu is yet another example of attempts to create a boundary between technological innovation and personal identity protection.
Sunny Singh is a Journalist and Content Writer with a strong affinity for Bollywood and Hollywood insiders, music and more. Somewhat of a writer and poet himself, he thrives on giving life to words and deliver all you need to know about the entertainment sector.
