Exploitation Of One’s Personality Rights Risks Their Right To Live With Dignity: Delhi High Court Grants Interim Relief Protecting Personality Rights Of Actor Nagarjuna

The Delhi High Court protected the personality rights of Actor Nagarjuna and observed that the exploitation of one’s personality rights puts at risk not only their economic interests but also their right to live with dignity.

The Bench of Justice Tejas Karia observed, “The exploitation of one’s personality rights puts at risk not only their economic interests but also their right to live with dignity, potentially causing immeasurable harm to their reputation and goodwill as the adoption of the attributes such as name, image, likeness unauthorizedly will inevitably cause confusion in the minds of the members of the public regarding association with / endorsement by the Plaintiff.”

Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar represented the Petitioner, while Advocate Yash Raj represented the Defendants.

Case Brief

A Suit was filed by Nagarjuna seeking permanent injunction restraining misappropriation of personality / publicity rights, infringement of performer’s rights and passing off. It was submitted that Nagarjuna is one of the most respected, acclaimed celebrated actors, producer, entrepreneur and a revered veteran of the Indian film industry, having featured in over 95 feature films.

It was also submitted that Nagarjuna’s image as a respected public personality is the result of over four decades of dedicated work, across different fields, which has earned him immense recognition and credibility among the public and the film fraternity alike.

It was contended that Nagarjuna’s name, image, likeness and persona have acquired a unique distinctiveness. Any third party found using any of the above stated elements of the Plaintiff’s persona is bound to cause confusion and deception amongst the general public regarding affiliation with / sponsorship by Nagarjuna.

Court’s Observation

The Delhi High Court underscored that the exploitation of one’s personality rights puts at risk not only their economic interests but also their right to live with dignity, potentially causing immeasurable harm to their reputation and goodwill as the adoption of the attributes such as name, image, likeness unauthorizedly will inevitably cause confusion in the minds of the members of the public regarding association with / endorsement by Nagarjuna.

The Court opined that it was prima facie clear that the attributes of the Nagarjuna persona, including his name and images, are being misused by Defendants, without any authorization from him.

“The Plaintiff is a celebrated personality in the entertainment industry and the depiction of the Plaintiff in settings that are misleading, derogatory and inappropriate will inevitably have the effect of diluting the goodwill and reputation associated with the Plaintiff”, the Court said.

Consequently, the Court restrained the Defendants from violating Nagarjuna's Personality Rights. The Court directed, “Defendants Nos. 1 to 13 and 20, their principal officers, servants, agents, affiliates, subsidiaries, distributors and all others acting for and on their behalf are restrained from violating the Plaintiff’s Personality Rights and / or Plaintiff’s Moral Rights and / or Passing Off their goods and / or services as those emanating from or being endorsed by the Plaintiff by utilizing and / or in any manner directly and / or indirectly, using or exploiting or misappropriating the Plaintiff’s (i) name ‘Akkineni Nagarjuna’ and ‘Nagarjuna’; (ii) image and likeness; (iii) other attributes of his persona which are exclusively identifiable with him; and (iv) creating, sharing, disseminating any product (including clothes) and / or content (including audio-visual content, images, videos, etc.) for any commercial and / or personal gain and / or otherwise by exploiting them in any manner whatsoever without the Plaintiff’s consent and / or authorization, through the use of any technology including, but not limited to Artificial Intelligence, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deepfakes, Face Morphing, on any medium and format, that results in the dilution of the Plaintiff’s public persona.”

Accordingly, the matter will be heard in January, 2026.

Cause Title: Akkineni Nagarjuna V. WWW.BFXX.ORG & Ors.

Appearance:

Petitioners: Senior Advocate Vaibhav Gaggar, Advocates Pravin Anand, Vaishali R Mittal, Vibhav Mithal, Shivang Sharma, Somdev Tiwari, Abhishek Nair and Vansh Shrivastav

Defendant: Advocate Yash Raj

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