New Delhi, February 25 – The Delhi High Court has granted a temporary injunction in favor of Bollywood actress Kajol, restraining multiple entities from misusing her name, image, voice, and other aspects of her personality, including through artificial intelligence (AI), deepfakes, and online merchandise.
A single-judge bench of Justice Jyoti Singh passed the interim order in a lawsuit filed by Kajol and Vishal Devgan against Kash Collective and several other defendants, including e-commerce platforms, social media intermediaries, AI chatbot websites, and unidentified "John Doe" entities.
The lawsuit alleged the large-scale unauthorized sale of merchandise bearing Kajol's name and photographs, the dissemination of AI-generated and altered images, the operation of vulgar AI chatbots impersonating her, and the hosting of pornographic deepfake content.
In its order, the Delhi High Court noted that Kajol is "a renowned personality in the Indian film industry with a distinguished career of nearly four decades and has left an indelible mark," adding that she has played leading roles in blockbuster films and is a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Padma Shri.
The order stated that Kajol has acquired significant goodwill and commercial reputation associated with her identity, making her name and personality attributes valuable proprietary rights deserving of judicial protection.
The Delhi High Court found that the defendants operating websites and online marketplaces were, prima facie, "illegally selling merchandise using the plaintiff's name and image, as well as other elements of her persona, for commercial gain, without the plaintiff's consent and authorization."
It further observed that if such products were of inferior quality, "it would further diminish the goodwill and reputation of the plaintiff, which has been built over years of hard work."
Justice Singh stated that, "Based on a comprehensive review of the lawsuit and the documents, the court believes that the plaintiff has established a prima facie case for the grant of a temporary injunction. The balance of convenience favors the plaintiff, and irreparable harm and injury would be caused to her if the temporary injunction, as sought, is not granted."
The Delhi High Court restrained the defendants and unidentified "John Doe" entities from directly or indirectly using or exploiting Kajol's name, image, voice, likeness, or any attribute of her persona for commercial or personal gain, including through artificial intelligence, generative AI, machine learning tools, deepfakes, or AI chatbots.
It further directed e-commerce platforms and merchandise sellers to immediately remove infringing products and remove identified URLs within 72 hours.
Social media platforms and video-hosting intermediaries were ordered to remove infringing posts and videos and disclose Basic Subscriber Information and IP logs of offending accounts to enable the identification of anonymous violators.
Similarly, the video-sharing platform YouTube was ordered to remove specified URLs and furnish subscriber details and IP logs of the infringing channels.
The Delhi High Court also restrained certain AI platforms from hosting chatbots or conversational tools impersonating the actor or facilitating vulgar or obscene interactions using her identity, adding that such content undermines dignity and may mislead the public into believing fabricated scenarios to be genuine.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) were also directed to block and disable identified websites hosting objectionable and pornographic content within 72 hours of receiving the order.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on April 23.
The Kajol case adds to a growing list of high-profile personalities invoking their personality and publicity rights before the Delhi High Court. In recent months, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (Jr NTR), spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan, singer Jubin Nautiyal, film-maker Karan Johar, and podcaster Raj Shamani have secured court protection against the unauthorized use of their identity, likeness, or AI-generated imitations.
