The Delhi High Court has granted an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of Pawan Kalyan, actor and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister, restraining multiple online platforms, websites and unidentified entities from misappropriating his personality and publicity rights through unauthorised merchandise, AI-generated content, deepfakes and impersonation.
The suit alleged large-scale unauthorised commercial exploitation of Pawan Kalyan’s name, image, likeness, voice and persona across e-commerce platforms, social media, event websites and AI tools. The plaintiff contended that such use misled the public into believing endorsement or association and violated his proprietary personality rights. Platforms including Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, Google, Meta, and several other websites were arrayed as defendants, with the Union Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology and Telecommunications & others were impleaded as proforma parties for enforcement purposes.
After examining the pleadings and documents, the Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora held that Pawan Kalyan, as a well-known public figure with significant commercial brand value, enjoys enforceable personality rights under settled law in D.M. Entertainment Vs. Baby Gift House, MANU/DE/2043/2010, Anil Kapoor Vs. Simply Life India & Ors., 2023 SCC Online Del 6914, and Jaikishan Kaku Bhai Sarf Alias Jackie Shroff Vs. The Peppy store and Ors., 2024 SCC Online Del 3664. The Court found a prima facie case of infringement where his attributes were being used for commercial gain without consent, including AI-generated voice replication, synthetic images, manipulated videos and sale of merchandise. Holding that the balance of convenience lay in favour of the plaintiff and that continued circulation of such content would cause irreparable harm, the Court granted interim protection.
The Court restrained identified infringing defendants and John Doe entities from using Pawan Kalyan’s name, image, likeness or voice in any form, including through artificial intelligence technologies. E-commerce platforms were directed to delist infringing products and furnish KYC details of sellers, while certain websites were ordered to take down misleading event listings and AI-generated content. In relation to social media “fan pages”, the Court permitted their continued existence subject to clear disclaimers, failing which the accounts are to be made inactive. The matter is listed for further proceedings in May 12, 2026.
Appearances
Plaintiff- J. Sai Deepak, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Himanshu Deora, Mr. Rahul Mehta, Mr. Arpit Choudhary, Mr. Krumal Mehta, Ms. Anupriya Alok, Ms. Shambhavi Sharma, Mr. Sanat, Ms. Shambhavi Bhardwaj, Ms. Karen Koya and Ms. Dhwani Vora, Advs.
Defendants- Ms. Shilpa Gupta and Ms. Surabhi Pande, Advs. for D-2 Ms. Srishti Dhoundiyal, Advocate for D-3 Ms. Mishthi Dubey, Adv. for D-4 Mr. Aditya Gupta, Ms. Vani Kaushik and Mr. Rohith Venkatesan, Advs. for D-5 Mr. Varun Pathak, Mr. Yash Karunakaran and Ms. Varsha Jhavar, Advs. for D-6
