Delhi High Court grants interim order protecting Allu Arjun's personality rights

The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to Allu Arjun and restrained unauthorised use of his name, voice and likeness. The court also directed social media platforms to remove infringing content linked to the actor.

In Short

• Delhi HC grants interim relief to Allu Arjun protecting personality rights
• Court restrains use of his name, voice and likeness without permission
• Unique features and trademarks linked to Allu Arjun highlighted

The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to Telugu star Allu Arjun by protecting his personality rights and restraining all entities from using his name, voice and likeness without permission for commercial purposes and impersonation.

In an interim order passed on April 17 in a lawsuit filed by the Pushpa actor, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that Arjun has built a “stellar career” and said his popular dialogues and distinctive attributes reflect his “iconic status.”

The court said that unique features such as his name, appearance and voice are closely associated with him and that he holds exclusive rights over their commercial use. It added that the actor could suffer irreparable loss if immediate relief was not granted.

The court also noted that Allu Arjun holds several trademark registrations related to his name and abbreviations.

In its order, the court restrained the defendants from using or exploiting Allu Arjun’s name, image, likeness or any other attributes associated with him without his consent. The restriction also covers the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence, generative AI, machine learning, deepfakes and face morphing across physical and digital platforms, including websites, social media and the metaverse.

The court also directed social media platforms to remove certain infringing content.

Earlier, senior counsel Swathi Sukumar argued that Arjun’s personality traits were being misused through merchandise sales featuring his image and signature, voice-cloning platforms, AI chatbots and even obscene content.

Several public figures including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sudhir Chaudhary, Raj Shamani, Gautam Gambhir, Sonakshi Sinha and Vivek Oberoi have also approached the high court in the past for similar protection and received interim relief.

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