New Delhi, Sept. 13 -- The Delhi high court has protected the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan, restraining entities from exploiting his name, image, and voice through technology and commercially without his consent. A bench of Justice Tejas Karia on Thursday said the use of technology to depict the actor in a misleading, derogatory, or inappropriate setting intruded on his right to privacy. Bachchan moved the court seeking protection of his name, image, voice, and other distinctive personality attributes. In his suit, he cited entities infringing his publicity and personality rights by using his name, voice, and video for illegal commercial purposes, clandestinely and surreptitiously, without a clear disclosure of their names. It added that various entities were also using artificial intelligence technology to create false, misleading images/videos of him, along with other celebrities, including sexually explicit and vulgar, distasteful content. Justice Karia directed entities to remove within 72 hours the URLs infringing on the actor's personality rights. He noted that unauthorised use of his persona could mislead the public and create a false impression of his endorsement. "The use of technology to depict the Plaintiff in settings that are misleading, derogatory, or inappropriate intrudes upon the Plaintiff's right to privacy. Such misappropriation is further aggravated by the ease with which online content can be disseminated. The Plaintiff, being a celebrated personality in the Indian entertainment industry, has acquired significant goodwill and reputation for himself," the court said. "Any infringement of the Plaintiff's Personality Rights will lead to dilution of the Plaintiff's reputation and goodwill that he has garnered over the years, while also confusing members of the public regarding the authenticity, endorsement, or sponsorship of a product or service by the Plaintiff." The court on Thursday also protected the interests of actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, saying that unauthorised use of a celebrity's identity causes commercial harm and infringes upon their right to live with dignity. In May 2024, the court safeguarded veteran actor Jackie Shroff's personality and publicity rights. It observed that unauthorised merchandise sales and distorted videos appeared to generate commercial gain through "unauthorised exploitation."...