Category: law

The Bombay High Court has granted interim relief in favour of actor Akshay Kumar, shielding him from the unauthorised use of his likeness, image, and voice through AI-generated content and deepfakes. The order marks a significant step in the ongoing conversation about celebrity personality rights and the ethical use of artificial intelligence in the media. Justice Arif Doctor observed that such misuse of a public figure’s image “not only hurts his stature but has huge consequences,” emphasizing the growing urgency of tackling impersonation and misinformation driven by emerging technologies. The order follows a civil suit filed by the actor-legally known as Akshay Hari Om Bhatia-to prevent individuals and online platforms from exploiting his persona without consent. Representing Kumar, Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf argued that the issue transcends personal injury and has broader implications for public trust. “These acts cause grave harm to the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation, dilute his personality and publicity rights, mislead the public, and amount to unfair competition and unjust enrichment,” Saraf said, urging the court to protect digital identity rights. The petition outlines multiple instances of deepfake misuse including a fabricated movie trailer showing Akshay as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and another clip falsely portraying him making remarks about Rishi Valmiki, which led to public backlash and forced clarifications from the actor. In one instance, a platform named Akshaykumar. ai allegedly allowed users to generate synthetic audio mimicking his voice and style. Saraf also highlighted concerns over counterfeit merchandise, cloned social media accounts, and fake endorsements circulating under Kumar’s name across platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook, as well as dark web listings. The plea sought a John Doe injunction against both known and unknown entities, asking intermediaries, e-commerce platforms, and domain registrars to identify perpetrators and remove infringing content. The court’s interim order aligns with a growing trend of Indian celebrities seeking protection from AI impersonations the Bombay High Court has previously extended similar relief to Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Karan Johar, Rishab Shetty, and Asha Bhosle, who faced deepfake misuse of voice and image. Also Read: Akshay Kumar moves Bombay High Court to protect his personality rights amid AI deepfake threat.