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Delhi High Court affirms Pawan Kalyan’s personality rights, flags unauthorised commercial use
Court says celebrity status confers proprietary rights over name, image and likeness; interim protection granted against misuse.
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The Delhi High Court has observed that Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan’s celebrity status inherently grants him proprietary rights over his personality and associated attributes, and that unauthorised use of such attributes amounts to a violation of his personality rights.
The observation was made while hearing a petition filed by Kalyan seeking protection of his personality, publicity, and privacy rights. The Court held that, based on settled legal principles and the material placed on record, a prima facie case had been made out in his favour.
The defendants in the matter include major e-commerce and technology platforms such as Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd., Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd., Meesho Ltd., Google LLC, and Meta Platforms Inc., along with several unidentified entities and individuals. The petition alleges that these parties were engaged in the unauthorised and unlawful exploitation of Kalyan’s name, image, voice, likeness, and other proprietary attributes for commercial gain.
In her interim order, the judge noted that some defendants were using Kalyan’s personality attributes to sell merchandise directly or through online marketplaces without consent. Others were alleged to have used his name, image, or likeness in artificial intelligence-based tools embedded in webpages for commercial exploitation.
The Court granted interim protection and issued directions to prevent further unauthorised use of the plaintiff’s personality rights. At the same time, it allowed websites or parties that are not primarily infringing, but have been blocked or affected due to the injunction, to approach the Court. Such parties may seek modification of the order by submitting an undertaking that they will not disseminate content infringing the plaintiff’s rights.
The matter has been listed before the Joint Registrar (Judicial) on February 9, 2026, and before the Court on May 12, 2026. The Court has also directed the plaintiff to file any additional documents by January 22, 2026, in accordance with the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018.
The order adds to the growing body of Indian jurisprudence recognising and enforcing personality and publicity rights of public figures in the digital and e-commerce ecosystem.
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