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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday indicated that it would pass an injunction order restraining the misuse of actor Hrithik Roshan's personality rights for monetary gains, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and creation of disparaging content.
The Court, however, clarified that no directions are being issued at this interim stage regarding fanpages or profiles. Instead, it directed that the Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) of such pages be shared with the actor to help identify potential misuse. Hearing Roshan's plea seeking protection of his name, image, likeness, and voice, Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora stated that while unauthorised commercial use and morphed content merit judicial restraint, fan pages run without a profit motive cannot be taken down ex parte. "Instagram use is not only for commercialisation. People do it for fun and recreation. These pages are not defamatory to you at all," the Court observed, while agreeing to most of the other reliefs sought by Roshan. Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Roshan, argued that the actor's personality rights were being exploited through AI-generated content, altered videos, and unauthorised merchandise such as bags and clothing under the brand name "Ribbon Balloons." He said such materials demeaned the actor's image and misled the public. During the proceedings, the Court heard submissions from representatives of multiple digital and e-commerce platforms. Meta's counsel said the platform could not remove entire fan pages but would take down specific offensive posts if the URLs were provided. Google's counsel said de-indexing could be done upon receipt of exact URLs, especially for posts hosted on third-party sites like Mashable. While Telegram's counsel undertook to remove three URLs flagged in court. Flipkart's and eBay's counsels said some infringing listings had already been removed, and the remaining ones would be taken down shortly. Justice Arora made it clear that the court understands concerns about commercial exploitation and morphed or obscene material, but fan clubs will not be removed unless evidence shows they are monetising or misusing Roshan's persona. "I am not persuaded to take down fan clubs at this stage. Let this be examined later," the judge remarked. The court is continuing to assess the infringing materials and is expected to issue a formal injunction order soon. Roshan's plea adds to a growing list of celebrity petitions before the Delhi High Court, following similar cases filed by Kumar Sanu, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan, where the court has passed orders protecting their digital and personality rights against misuse, particularly in the age of AI and social media manipulation. (ANI)
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