The Delhi High Court has taken up a high-profile suit filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan seeking judicial protection of his personality rights, including his name, image, voice, likeness and other personal attributes, from unauthorised commercial exploitation without his consent. The actor’s petition was heard by a bench of the High Court under Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, reflecting a broader and ongoing trend in which prominent public figures are approaching courts to safeguard their identity against misuse in the digital age, including on social media and e-commerce platforms. In his suit, Khan has named various defendants — both specific and anonymous “John Doe” entities — responsible for using his persona for commercial purposes without authorisation, potentially misleading the public and causing irreparable harm to his commercial and personal rights.
During the hearing, the Court directed several social media intermediaries to treat Khan’s plaint as a complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and to take necessary action within three days. This means that platforms on which the alleged unauthorised content or merchandise is circulating must consider the actor’s allegations under the IT Rules and process the complaint accordingly within a tight timeline, notifying Khan if they have any reservations about specific links or items he has identified. The judge noted that similar interim measures have been granted in other personality-rights suits recently filed before the same court by well-known figures, including other film actors and public personalities, where the misuse of name, image or likeness has been restrained. The Court also indicated that it will pass interim orders extending to other non-intermediary defendants — such as online sellers or websites selling unauthorised merchandise using his image — once details of those parties are provided.
The relief sought in the suit arises from the concept of personality rights — often also referred to as “right to publicity” — which recognises a person’s exclusive right to control and commercially benefit from the use of their identity. In the context of digital media and AI, where deepfakes, impersonations, and unlicensed merchandise have become widespread, courts have increasingly recognised that celebrities must be able to prevent unauthorised entities from exploiting their persona for commercial gain or misleading the public. By directing intermediaries to act swiftly and by signalling forthcoming orders against other defendants, the High Court has underscored the importance of these rights and the need for prompt action against infringing content or commerce.
The Court’s direction to platforms to treat the plaint as a complaint under the IT Rules places an immediate onus on social media and digital intermediaries to address the allegations within a fixed timeframe, reinforcing the statutory duty to process grievances about harmful content. Meanwhile, the promise of broader injunctions against non-intermediary entities selling materials or otherwise exploiting the actor’s image reflects judicial recognition that personality rights encompass a wide spectrum of protections against misuse of identity, voice and other personal traits in the commercial sphere.
Khan’s petition joins a growing list of similar cases in which courts have granted interim relief to public figures seeking to restrain unauthorised use of their likeness and related attributes. The High Court’s evolving jurisprudence on personality rights is shaping legal protections in the digital era where social media and e-commerce have made rapid dissemination of content and merchandise based on individual identities commonplace. The judicial approach highlights that unauthorised commercial exploitation of a person’s persona can constitute actionable infringement of personality and publicity rights, meriting swift judicial intervention to uphold dignity, reputation and commercial interests associated with a public figure’s identity.
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