Samantha Ruth Prabhu has secured a significant legal victory in her fight against the misuse of her identity online. The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted her interim protection, barring AI platforms, e-commerce portals and digital media entities from using her name, image and voice without permission. The court has also directed that unauthorised content featuring the actor be taken down.
Hearing the suit on personality rights, Justice Madhav Jamdar found that, at first glance, the material placed before the court pointed to an infringement of Samantha’s personality and publicity rights through non-consensual AI-generated deepfakes and morphed content.
As per the India Today report, in his observations, the judge said, “The plaintiff’s personality rights and publicity rights are protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, that is, the right to freedom of speech and expression, as also by Article 21 of the Constitution of India, that is, the right to life and personal liberty, including the right to privacy and the right to human dignity, and her moral rights as a performer are separately protected under Section 38B of the Copyright Act. Thus, all these valuable rights of the plaintiff are violated and adversely affected by the impugned actions of the defendants.”
Samantha had moved the court to seek protection against the creation and circulation of AI-generated, morphed and deepfake content built around her identity. Her suit targets unknown infringers as well as a range of technology platforms, AI developers, digital media companies and e-commerce entities, 18 defendants in all, which also include government bodies.
Among the reliefs sought were permanent injunctions, content takedowns and damages. She also asked for a John Doe order, a mechanism that allows legal action against infringers whose identities are not yet known.
On the question of jurisdiction, Samantha invoked Section 62 of the Copyright Act, 1957, while her claim regarding performers’ moral rights falls under Section 38B of the same Act. She was granted leave under Clause XII of the Letters Patent on 28 August, a provision that lets the Bombay High Court hear matters where defendants or causes of action lie outside its usual territorial limits. Samantha told the court that her business and goodwill are rooted in Mumbai, but that several of the alleged infringing activities and commercial operations run by non-resident defendants extend beyond the court’s local jurisdiction.
Granting ad-interim relief, the court ordered the removal of the offending content and restrained any further unauthorised use of her name, image and voice. The matter will next be heard on 10 December.
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