Delhi High Court To Pass Order Protecting Personality Rights Of Actor Varun Dhawan

The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it will pass interim order protecting the personality rights of Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan.

Justice Jyoti Singh said that the infringing links of defendants relating to unauthorized sale of merchandise, pornographic content and material using likeness of the actor will be ordered to be taken down.

Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi appeared for Dhawan and took the Court through the infringing material. He highlighted various links containing unauthorized merchandise, AI generated content, deepfakes and pornographic material.

The Court asked Sethi to file a document highlighting specific links by today, while clarifying that an interim order will be passed.

Dhawan has sought relief against unknown entities, as well as various other known defendants, to restrain them from exploiting his personal traits, including his photos, without his consent.

He has also sought relief against those who are exploiting his personality elements for commercial purposes, including merchandises, unauthorizedly.

It may be noted that the Court has been protecting the personality rights of political figures like Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan.

It has also protected rights of entrepreneur Aman Gupta, Telugu actor Allu Arjun, Malayalam actor Mohanlal, spiritual preacher Aniruddhacharya, singer Jubin Nautiyal, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, and actors Kajol Devgan, R Madhavan and NTR Junior. Similar suit has been filed by actor Salman Khan.

The coordinate benches have also passed orders protecting the personality rights of “The Art of Living” foundation founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and film producer Karan Johar.

Notably, the Court also protected the personality rights of journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, who had sought relief regarding the circulation of allegedly misleading and AI-generated videos against him on social media.

The Court also passed a john doe order protecting the personality rights of podcaster Raj Shamani, observing that he is a known face in India, especially in the field of content creation.

VARUN DHAWAN v. ARTIST BOOKING COMPANY & ORS