After Aishwarya Rai and Karan Johar, Nagarjuna Akkineni moves Delhi HC to seek protection of personality rights

Telugu superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni has joined a growing list of Indian celebrities taking legal steps to protect their personality rights. Following the lead of Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, and filmmaker Karan Johar, the 'Annamayya' actor approached the Delhi High Court to prevent misuse of his identity online.

Court hears Nagarjuna Akkineni’s plea for personality rights

As reported by ANI, the Delhi High Court on Thursday heard the 'Mass' actor’s petition before Justice Tejas Karia. Appearing for Nagarjuna, Advocate Pravin Anand spoke about the actor’s remarkable career. With 95 films to his credit and two National Film Awards, Nagarjuna enjoys a strong reputation in the Telugu film industry.



He is widely praised for his versatility and has been called a “celluloid scientist” for his ability to take on varied roles. Anand particularly highlighted Nagarjuna’s performance in the film 'Shiva', which he said “changed the course of Indian cinema.”

Nagarjuna’s online presence under potential threat?

The 'Ninne Pelladata' actor has a huge online following, with over six million followers on X and more than eight million on Facebook. His petition flagged three main issues, p*rnographic content wrongly linked to him, unauthorised merchandise using his name or image, and AI-generated content using his likeness.

Advocate Anand pointed out YouTube Shorts and paid promotional videos using hashtags linked to Nagarjuna. He warned that such content could be used to train artificial intelligence models, making the misuse worse.

Court acknowledges challenges of online content

During the hearing, Justice Karia recognised how difficult it is to control material once it is uploaded online. He said that generative AI models can use content even if it is fake.

The court identified 14 specific URLs to be taken down. But Justice Karia also asked how long such orders could last, considering the lasting fame of public figures. This shows the ongoing challenge of protecting celebrity rights in the digital age.

Bollywood celebs also moved court to protect their rights

Nagarjuna’s petition follows similar steps by Bollywood stars. The Delhi High Court recently stopped websites and platforms from violating the publicity and personality rights of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

In their case, the court specifically barred respondents from misusing their names, images, voices, acronyms, likenesses, or any attributes uniquely linked to them. These measures were meant to protect celebrities from unauthorised commercial use of their identity.

Filmmaker Karan Johar has also sought protection of his personality rights. The court issued interim relief, directing online platforms to stop selling unauthorised merchandise using his name or likeness.
Disclaimer: The information in this report is based on a legal hearing as reported by a third-party source. The details provided represent allegations made by the parties involved and are not proven facts. The case is ongoing, and a final verdict has not been reached. The publication does not claim that the allegations are true.