The Bombay High Court on Thursday, November 5 granted ad-interim protection to two actors in separate personality-rights suits, ordering the removal of objectionable online content that uses their names and images without consent, including AI-generated images, deepfakes and fake commercial endorsements, LiveLaw reported. Both orders were passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar.
Source: LiveLaw
The Ananya Panday order
In Ananya Panday v. Fankaar Live Experiences Pvt. Ltd. & Ors., Justice Jamdar held prima facie that the content in question violates Panday's right to privacy, right to publicity and moral rights, and her right to live with dignity, and directed that such content available on the internet be deleted, LiveLaw reported. Panday had told the court that several products and outlets were using her photographs and AI-generated images and video clips without her consent.
Source: LiveLaw
Bar and Bench reported that the ex-parte interim order directs defendants, including e-commerce companies and social-media platforms, to halt the misuse of Panday's name, image, likeness, voice and signature. Her plea had flagged unauthorised merchandise sales, talent agencies falsely claiming authority to book her, AI-enabled chatbots impersonating her, and digitally manipulated offensive and sexually explicit content circulating on platforms including Meta, X and Reddit, the report said.
Source: Bar and Bench
The court directed Amazon and Flipkart to remove unauthorised product listings, ordered social-media intermediaries to take down offensive deepfakes and pornographic material, instructed domain registrars and government authorities to block websites hosting the fake AI chatbots and illicit content, and ordered the immediate destruction of all unauthorised physical merchandise, Bar and Bench reported. Panday was advised by Priyanka Khimani of Khimani & Associates.
Source: Bar and Bench
The Rupali Ganguly order
In the second case, the court ordered all respondents to pull down objectionable content concerning television actor Rupali Ganguly, with one exception — Huts and Looms Pvt. Ltd., which has claimed it used only images Ganguly herself shared through her stylist, LiveLaw reported. Ganguly's case is titled Rupali Ganguly v. Huts & Looms Private Limited & Ors. and was filed through advocate Sana Raees Khan.
Source: LiveLaw
In her plea, Ganguly contended that she has the right to exclusive control over the commercial use of her personality — her name, signature, voice, image, likeness and mannerisms — and alleged that traders were putting her name and images on products such as posters, t-shirts and covers to falsely suggest an association with her, LiveLaw reported. She also alleged that her face had been morphed onto videos on sexually explicit portals using AI and image-editing tools, without her consent. The plaint noted her 25-year television career, including Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Sanjeevani, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Anupamaa.
Source: LiveLaw
What happens next: both orders are ad-interim — interim protection granted at this stage of the suits, which will continue before the court. Together, the two rulings underline how Indian courts are increasingly being asked to police AI-era misuse of a public figure's face and name, from deepfake videos and impersonating chatbots to merchandise sold on a false claim of endorsement.