Actor and entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi has approached the Delhi High Court against the unauthorised use of his name, image and voice in AI-generated and deepfake content. He said such content is vulgar, misleading and damaging to his reputation and business goodwill.
New Delhi: Actor and entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court seeking legal protection against the misuse of his name, photographs, voice and other personal attributes by unknown entities, particularly through morphed and AI-generated content circulating online.
The matter was heard by Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, who briefly noted the issue and said, “We will pass the order,” indicating that the court would issue directions in the case.
In his lawsuit, Oberoi stated that several individuals and online pages were unlawfully using his personality without permission, causing serious and irreparable harm to his reputation, goodwill and public image.
He alleged that these actions were being carried out mainly on social media platforms such as Instagram, where fake accounts were created using his name and photographs.
According to the suit, these entities were using artificial intelligence tools to generate “deep fake” and morphed videos that falsely depicted him in objectionable and offensive situations. The petition explained that
“These videos often portray the plaintiff in a false setting as well as in an inappropriate scenario with other celebrities of the film industry. Such scenarios often seek to convey obvious distasteful insinuations that target plaintiffs family life as well. Such distasteful videos are bound to mislead the public into thinking that what is depicted in that video is in fact true.”
The lawsuit further pointed out that
“These videos are vulgar and sexually explicit in nature. 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,”
highlighting how such content was being used purely to attract views and generate online engagement at the cost of his dignity.
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Oberoi also stressed that his professional identity is not limited to the film industry. The petition stated that apart from being a well-known actor, he is a successful entrepreneur with business interests in both India and Dubai. He argued that over the years, he has
“built independent commercial credibility beyond the film industry and has acquired substantial goodwill as a businessman”,
and therefore no individual or entity has the right to copy, imitate or misuse any part of his personality, including his name, voice, signature or image, for commercial gain without his consent.
The suit also raised concerns about the sale of unauthorised merchandise such as posters, T-shirts and postcards carrying his name and image on various e-commerce platforms. Oberoi claimed that these activities were being carried out without his knowledge or approval and amounted to a clear violation of his personality and publicity rights.
Through the petition, Oberoi has sought directions from the High Court to restrain all such offending entities from continuing to misuse his identity and to prevent further circulation of such content in the future.
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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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