The Delhi High Court on September 17, 2025, passed a favourable order granting an interim injunction to filmmaker and celebrity plaintiff Karan Johar in a suit concerning infringement of his personality rights, copyright, performer’s rights, publicity rights, and misappropriation and passing off. The Bench of Justice Manmeet Singh Arora held that a prima facie case was established in Johar’s favour, the balance of convenience lay with him, and irreparable harm would be caused to his reputation if relief was denied.
The case concerns filmmaker Karan Johar, who alleged that his name, likeness, voice, signature style of the word “toodles,” and abbreviation “KJo” were being unlawfully appropriated. He also claimed unauthorized activities from the defendants, such as merchandise sales, GIFs, memes, AI voice and image manipulation, deep fakes, and fake social media accounts that tarnished his reputation and misled the public into believing he endorsed such products or platforms. The Plaintiff also sought liberty to approach ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and the concerned DNR to lock and suspend the infringing domain www.karanjohar.com. The defendants, particularly intermediaries like Google and Meta, reiterated that while they would comply with takedown orders, some impugned content could amount to permissible parody, caricature, or satire, which the law protects as free speech.
The Court observed that derogatory and obscene content could not be sheltered under free speech exceptions and that irreparable harm to Johar’s reputation justified immediate intervention. Accordingly, the Court issued an ex parte ad interim injunction restraining the defendants from unauthorized use of Johar’s name, image, likeness, voice, for commercial purposes, including via AI, deep fakes, GIFs, or merchandise. There were also specific takedown and suspension orders issued against the defendant’s websites, platforms, domain registrars, and social media accounts enlisted in the plaint. However, the Court reserved its decision on certain parody exceptions and Johar’s claim over “toodles” until the next hearing.The defendants were directed to comply with the order within ten days, while Mr. Johar was directed to file an amended memo of parties and affidavits within a week of receiving BSI details from defendants 7, 14, 15, and 16 respectively. The matter is now listed before the Joint Registrar on November 11, 2025, for service and pleadings, and before the Court on February 19, 2026.
Appearances:
For the Plaintiff : Advs- Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Nizamuddin Pasha, Mr. Parag Khandhar, Ms. Chandrima Mitra, Mr. Krishan Kumar and Mr. Sidharth Kaushik
For the Defendants : Advs- Ms. Nirupam Lodha, Mr. Kshitiz Parashar and Mr. Gautam Wadhwa, Advs. for D-8 and 11 Ms. Mamta Rani Jha, Mr. Rohan Ahuja, Ms. Shruttima Ehersa, Ms. Diya Viswanath, Ms. Aiswarya D. and Ms. Devangini Rai, Advs. for D-6 and D-14 Mr. Varun Pathak and Mr. Yash Karunakaran, Advs. for D-15
