The Delhi High Court, on Friday, agreed that it will pass orders to protect Telugu actor Allu Arjun`s personality rights. The order comes after Arjun moved the Delhi High Court to protect his personality rights, followed by the court questioning his move.
Delhi High Court to protect Allu Arjun`s personality right
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, who heard the suit filed by Arjun, passed the order on Friday. While the Bench initially questioned Arjun`s move to the Delhi High Court, it eventually said the orders will be passed.
“Why are you here? There are five States in between,” the Bench initially remarked, referring to the geographical distance between Delhi and Arjun`s home State, Telangana. However, the counsel appearing for Arjun, Swathi Sukumar, said that infringement is happening across the country. Justice Gedela then agreed to the request.
About the personality rights case
Senior Advocate Swathi Sukumar, who appeared for Arjun, stated that it is truly frightening that one of the defendants has made an app which enables a person to speak to an AI likeness of Arjun. She added that, unlike many other celebrities, the Pushpa star has trademarked his name and signature.
“There is a `fake-call Pushpa` app… What is frightening is that there is an app where you can speak to the AI likeness of this person. This is fertile ground for any kind of scam that involves the plaintiff. That`s the concern. It`s his face video calling…,” Sukumar submitted.
“I have set out all my registered trademarks. I have 26 registered trademarks. There are a few other celebrities, but not many who have so many registered trademarks,” Sukumar added.
The counsel appearing for the intermediaries noted that the Court may not pass injunction orders on a global level since the issue is pending adjudication before a division bench.
With the recent order, Allu Arjun joins the long list of actors, cricketers and other notable personalities who have approached the High Court over their personality and public rights. Several public figures, including actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Nagarjuna and others had earlier approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights.
