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In July, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan<\/a> came across AI-generated deepfake videos on YouTube that superimposed her face onto sexually explicit content. Later, in August, she found that an organisation had been created in her name and was seeking her endorsement. When her lawyers sent a ceaseand-desist notice, the organiser responded with a letter requesting a meeting. These two incidents are among several cited by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan\u2019s lawyers in their petition to the Delhi High Court<\/a>, requesting protection of her celebrity rights. The suit was filed against websites such as aishwaryaworld.com, apkpure. com, bollywoodteeshop.com, and kashcollectiveco.com, which allegedly sell products with her name and photograph without authorisation. Justice Tejas Karia verbally indicated that he would pass an interim order in the case.The lawyers have argued that the rise of artificial intelligence, deepfake technology, and unregulated online platforms is increasingly weaponising celebrity identities for commercial gain.Lawyers say that both the lawsuits argue that \u201can individual\u2019s persona \u2013 their name, image, likeness, voice, and signature \u2013 is proprietary to that person.\u201d \u201cIndian courts have recognised celebrity personality rights, as they are commercial assets capable of generating goodwill and licensing opportunities,\u201d say lawyers Ameet Naik and Pravin Anand.What does Aishwarya Rai Bachchan\u2019s petition state<\/span>\u201cOver the many years, the plaintiff (Aishwarya) has built a brand of herself, wherein the public associates both \u2018trust\u2019 and \u2018quality\u2019 with the Plaintiff as also with every brand that the Plaintiff endorses. On account of the following above-mentioned factors, the Plaintiff is a person with a celebrity status and thus has \u2018Personality \/ Publicity \/ Celebrity Rights\u2019 over all facets of her personality. The Plaintiff also enjoys moral rights in her performances and accordingly the Plaintiff is entitled to prevent the distortion of such performance(s).\u201dWhat happened<\/span>A suit was \ufb01led on behalf of Abhishek Bachchan in the Delhi High Court, seeking enforcement and protection of his personality rights against unauthorised commercial exploitation by both identi\ufb01ed and unidenti\ufb01ed defendants. The court has now signalled it will pass an injunction, with infringing links ordered to be taken down. This comes a day after the court signalled its intent to issue injunctions in Aishwarya\u2019s plea seeking the same. The suit highlights instances of misuse of Abhishek\u2019s images by unauthorised sellers, selling T-shirts, stickers with his face and name and posters bearing a fake signature, merchandise with fake autographs. The suit also points to YouTube channels using AI and deepfake to generate frivolous, defamatory, sexually explicit, and objectionable videos featuring his image or look alike. Both suits are \ufb01led by Ameet Naik and Pravin Anand of Anand & Naik.What do courts say?<\/span>\u201cUsing a person\u2019s names, voice, dialogue, image in an illegal manner that too for commercial purposes cannot be permitted.The celebrities\u2019 rights of endorsement could be a major source of livelihood for the celebrity which can\u2019t be completely destroyed by way of selling merchandise etc,\u201d Delhi HC had said in Anil Kapoor\u2019s case.What are personality rights<\/span>Personality rights are the right of a person to protect his\/her personality under the right to privacy or property.Name, nickname, images, voice or any identi\ufb01able personal property comes under it<\/div>\n