The Delhi High Court has protected actor Vivek Oberoi’s personality rights, barring entities from exploiting his name, voice, image, or signature. The court said, “He has a right to protect his personality apart from all attributes from unauthorized access by unscrupulous infringers.”
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has taken steps to safeguard the “personality rights” of actor and entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi, prohibiting various entities from exploiting his name, voice, and image for commercial or personal gain.
In an interim order in response to Oberoi’s lawsuit, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela stated that given Oberoi’s “well-known, popular and well-accepted personality,” he would suffer irreparable harm if immediate action were not taken.
The court recognized that Oberoi has a “copyright” over his own persona, which encompasses his image, likeness, voice, name, and signature.
His extensive career and notable success in the film industry reflect his significant goodwill, reputation, and public acceptance.
The court observed,
“Thus, the plaintiff, at this stage, has a right to protect his personality apart from all his attributes from unauthorized access by unscrupulous infringers, some of whom are arrayed as defendants in the suit.”
As a result, the court has restrained several parties from infringing upon Oberoi’s personality/publicity rights by misusing his attributes, including his name “Vivek Oberoi” voice, image, and other aspects of his persona for any commercial or personal gain through technologies like AI, deep fakes, or face morphing.
The court also ordered the removal of any products, such as T-shirts and posters featuring his attributes, and directed online platforms, including YouTube, Meta Platforms, and X Corp, to eliminate links to any infringing material within 72 hours.
Oberoi’s lawsuit highlighted that numerous entities have been unauthorizedly exploiting his personality rights, leading to significant damage to his goodwill and reputation. He noted instances where fake social media accounts impersonated him, using his name and images to create “AI-generated deep fake” and morphed content with “distasteful imagery.”
These videos often depict Oberoi in inappropriate contexts alongside other celebrities, sending misleading messages that could harm his public image.
He described some of these videos as vulgar and sexually explicit, emphasizing,
“What is particularly egregious is the fact that the defendants are exploiting the plaintiff’s image and creating such YouTube shorts/videos to gain traction for their videos.”
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Oberoi pointed out that, in addition to his acting career, he also has successful business ventures in India and Dubai, which have contributed to his independent commercial credibility and goodwill beyond the film industry.
He stressed that no one has the right to misappropriate or imitate any aspect of his persona, including his name, signature, voice, or image, for commercial purposes without his consent.
Lastly, the lawsuit noted that certain entities were selling unauthorized merchandise featuring his name and image on various e-commerce platforms. Oberoi is seeking a court order to prevent these entities from infringing on his personality/publicity rights.
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The case adds to a growing list of similar petitions filed before the Delhi High Court in recent years. Several well-known public figures, including actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, ‘Art of Living’ founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani, have earlier moved the court with similar complaints.
In those matters, the High Court had granted interim relief to protect their personality and publicity rights, recognising the growing threat posed by AI-generated and impersonation-based online content.
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