Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has secured interim relief from the Bombay High Court in a case concerning the protection of his personality rights against the misuse of AI and deepfake technology. The High Court's decision comes amid growing concerns about the unauthorized commercial exploitation of celebrities' personas through AI-generated content.
Kumar approached the court seeking a permanent and mandatory John Doe injunction against unknown entities, social media platforms, and websites to restrain the ongoing infringement and unauthorized commercial exploitation of his personality rights. These rights include his name (Akshay Hari Om Bhatia), screen name "Akshay Kumar," image, likeness, voice, distinctive performance style, mannerisms, and other identifiable attributes.
The actor alleged large-scale misuse of his persona through AI-generated deepfake images and videos, counterfeit merchandise, deceptive advertisements, and false brand endorsements across various social media and e-commerce platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). He argued that these actions cause grave and irreparable harm to his goodwill and reputation, dilute his personality rights, mislead the public, and amount to unfair competition and unjust enrichment.
Senior Advocate Dr. Birendra Saraf, representing Kumar, highlighted the serious consequences of the infringed content, not only for the actor and his family but also for the public at large. Saraf cited instances of manipulated media, including a viral trailer falsely depicting Kumar as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a film he was not a part of, which garnered nearly 2 million views before being taken down. Another manipulated video showed Kumar making remarks about Rishi Valmiki, leading to public demonstrations.
Saraf also drew the court's attention to AI-driven platforms that clone Kumar's voice and image, including a website offering an "AI Akshay Kumar V2 Voice" tool capable of generating speech in his tone and style from any text input. Additionally, he pointed out the existence of obscene blogs, fake endorsements, social media accounts misusing Kumar's photographs, and unauthorized digital stickers and merchandise being sold under his name. He noted that some of this material appears to originate from the dark web, making it difficult to trace those responsible.
Justice Arif Doctor of the Bombay High Court heard the submissions and reserved the order. The court remarked that such infringement, including deepfake videos, not only hurts Kumar's stature but also has huge consequences. The court has now passed an ad-interim order protecting Kumar’s personality rights.
Kumar's legal action follows similar moves by other Indian public figures, including Hrithik Roshan, Asha Bhosle, and Suniel Shetty, who have sought court intervention to counter the unauthorized exploitation of their digital identities. Recently, the Bombay High Court granted interim protection of personality rights to Asha Bhosle and Suniel Shetty in related cases. The Delhi High Court has also issued directions for the takedown of certain AI-generated content against actor Hrithik Roshan and singer Kumar Sanu. These cases underscore the growing concern and the seriousness with which the courts are treating the threat posed by AI-driven impersonations and the misuse of personality rights in the digital age.
