Bombay High Court: The present application was filed by Suniel Shetty seeking protection of his personality rights, privacy rights and the right to live with dignity guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and as well as for the protection of his moral rights under the Copyright Act, 1957.
A Single Judge Bech of Arif S. Doctor, J., held that Suniel Shetty had made a prima facie case and if the ad-interim relief was not granted, he would suffer irreparable injury and harm. Therefore, the Court granted ex-parte interim relief to Suniel Shetty, restricting the defendants from utilizing or infringing uniquely identifiable attribute, including through Artificial Intelligence generated content, deepfake videos, voice cloned audio, etc. The Defendants were also directed to take down/remove/disable access to such infringing listings/pages/content.
Background
The plaintiff, Suniel Shetty, is a renowned Indian film actor, producer and public figure with a career in the Indian film industry spanning over three decades. He has worked in over 100 films and is widely known for his performances in commercially successful and critically acclaimed films such as “Balwaan”, “Mohra”, “Dilwale”, and “Border”, Main Hoon Na and the film “Hera Pheri” for which he has received various awards. Due to his immense public standing and public image, Suniel Shetty has been named as brand ambassador for several reputed national and international brands.
Suniel Shetty is distinctively known for his voice and tone, his performance and mannerisms, his name, his image and his likeness which has gained him a vast following on diverse social media platforms. This underscores his significant public recognition and extensive goodwill.
Suniel Shetty had averred that Defendant 1 (John Doe) had been circulating deepfake videos depicting him and his family members in obscene and scandalous manner. It was also alleged that Defendant 18 was circulating unauthorized advertisements, promotions, and false endorsements using Suniel Shetty’s indicia, including a gambling/sports-betting website falsely proclaiming partnership and collaboration with Suniel Shetty. Furthermore, Defendant 2, an astrologer/numerology service was allegedly running advertisements on Instagram (Defendant 3) using Suniel Shetty’s name and AI generated images. Moreover, a verified social media user offering services as a real estate mindset coach and purporting to advise viewers on how to secure Suniel Shetty as a client and sell him property in Dubai. Defendant 1 had also creating profiles that impersonate Suniel Shetty by making the public at large believe that these accounts belong to Suniel Shetty.
Suniel Shetty alleged that defendants were engaged in systematic misappropriation and unauthorized exploitation of his identity and personality rights for their own commercial gain and personal benefit as ongoing infringement not only unlawfully exploited and diverted the economic value inherent in the Suniel Shetty’s status but also posed a significant threat to the plaintiff’s professional career and public standing.
Aggrieved by the same, Suniel Shetty approached the present Court.
Analysis, Law and Decision
The Court observed that the infringing material disclosed a clear infringement of Suniel Shetty’s rights and warrants urgent protection. The Court noted that the clandestine and continuing nature of these activities and the ongoing harm, Suniel Shetty had correctly impleaded Defendant 1- John Doe/Ashok Kumar, to represent the entire class of such unknown persons whose identities cannot be presently ascertained.
The Court held that a prima facie case had been made out for the grant of ad interim relief. The balance of convenience was also entirely in favour of Suniel Shetty, and if the ad-interim relief was not granted, Suniel Shetty would suffer irreparable injury and harm.
Accordingly, the Court ordered the following: –
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Defendants 1, 2, 4, 6, 13, 15, and 18 were restrained from infringing and/or utilizing and/or misappropriating Suniel Shetty’s personality rights and/or moral rights and/or imitating any of Suniel Shetty’s indicia and any uniquely identifiable attribute, including through Artificial Intelligence generated content, deepfake videos, voice cloned audio, edited or morphed visuals, metaverse environments. There were also restrained from passing off their goods, services, schemes, content, promotions or advertisements as emanating from, endorsed by or associated with Suniel Shetty and importing, manufacturing, warehousing, selling, offering for sale, advertising or otherwise dealing in any goods or services, including counterfeit merchandise or operating any schemes or content that exploit Suniel Shetty’s indicia.
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All the defendants including Meta (Defendant 3) and X-Corp (Defendant 19) were directed to take down/remove/disable access to all listings/pages/content identified as infringing content.
[Suniel V Shetty v. John Doe S Ashok Kumar, I.A No. 32198 of 2025, decided on: 10-10-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Advocate for the Plaintiff- Birendra Saraf, Advocate General; Janay Jain, Monisha Mane Bhangale, Bijal Vora, Tamanna Meghrajani, Pavanaj R. Hariharan i/b Parinam Law Associates
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