Delhi High Court bars misuse of Arjun Kapoor's name and likeness, AI deepfakes included

The Delhi High Court has barred unnamed parties from exploiting actor Arjun Kapoor's name, image, likeness and persona without his consent, AI-made deepfakes included. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela granted the ex parte ad-interim injunction on 29 April 2026 in Arjun Kapoor v. Artist Booking Company & Ors. It covers named defendants, social media handles, websites and unidentified "John Doe" operators.

The suit pointed to fake event bookings, merchandise such as T-shirts and posters carrying his face, and pornographic material, among it sexually explicit videos made with AI tools. The court found that Kapoor had never licensed or permitted any of this, so it saw prima facie infringement committed for unlawful gain. It added that explicit AI videos would damage his image irreparably and must come down at once.

Google and Meta were told to remove the infringing URLs and to disclose basic subscriber information about the people behind the accounts. Lawyers for the intermediaries argued that some of the flagged content was parody or satire. The judge disagreed for most of the screenshots shown, which looked like clear infringement on first view. Kapoor may also act against new infringers as they surface, and the court treated his film career, charity work and wide public visibility as the features that identify him.

The next hearing was listed for 10 October. Reports differ on one point: Bar & Bench and LiveLaw name Justice Gedela and describe an interim order, while The420.in names Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav and says the matter was disposed of without further hearing because no written statements were filed. That outlet also ran the ruling beside actress Neha Sharma's warning on X of legal action over unauthorised AI-altered images of her.