Actor and producer Anil Kapoor has initiated legal proceedings to protect his publicity and personality rights. He has lodged a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court, seeking a permanent restraining order against the unauthorized utilization of his name, voice, signature, likeness, or any distinctive feature closely associated with him for commercial or personal advantages without his explicit authorization.
This action underscores Kapoor's dedication to preserving his identity and standing in a time marked by widespread digital content dissemination.
Sharing his thoughts on the legal suit, Anil Kapoor shares, “I had filed a suit in Delhi HC through my lawyer Ameet Naik for protection of my personality rights including my name, image, likeness, voice and other attributes of my personality against any misuse including on digital media. The suit has various instances of misuse of my attributes.”
“The court has, after a detailed hearing, granted an order acknowledging my personality rights and restraining all offenders from misusing my personality attributes including my name, image, likeness, voice etc without my permission in any manner including through artificial intelligence, deep fakes, GIFs. etc. my intention is not to interfere with anyone’s freedom or expression or to penalise anyone. My personality is my life's work and I've worked hard to build it. With this lawsuit, I'm seeking protection of my personality rights to prevent against it's misuse in any way, particularly in the current scenario with rapid changes in technology and tools like artificial intelligence that are easily misused to the detriment of the owners of such rights.”
Justice Prathiba M Singh has decreed that Anil Kapoor's name, image, voice, or any aspect of his identity cannot be employed by anyone for the creation of products, ringtones, or any other merchandise.
Moreover, the Court has also prohibited the use of artificial intelligence systems to manipulate his image and the utilization of his likeness in GIFs for financial gain or commercial motives when it is likely to violate Kapoor's rights.
On the professional front, Anil Kapoor's upcoming production, 'Thank You For Coming,' recently had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it garnered a standing ovation. The film is scheduled for release on October 6, 2023.