New Delhi: Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has received a major legal relief as the Delhi High Court protected her personality rights, preventing the unauthorized use of her name, images, and likeness.

The actress had approached the court seeking protection against misuse of her personal attributes, including through emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Justice Tejas Karia, presiding over the matter, restrained several individuals and companies from exploiting the actress’s identity without her consent. The court emphasized that unauthorized use of personal attributes amounts to a violation of an individual’s right to privacy and can harm their dignity and reputation.

“Personality Rights of individuals, simply put, entail the right to control and protect the exploitation of one’s image, name, likeness or other attributes of the individual’s personality, in addition to the commercial gains that can be derived from the same.

Personality Rights can be located in the individuals’ autonomy to permit or deny the exploitation of their likeness or other attributes of their personality,” the court stated.

The bench further clarified that misuse of a celebrity’s name or photo does not just lead to commercial losses but also undermines their right to live with dignity.

“Unauthorized exploitation of personality attributes has two facets – first, violation of the right to commercially protect these attributes, and second, violation of the right to privacy,” it added.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan joins a growing list of actors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, and Jackie Shroff, who have legally safeguarded their personality rights.

On the work front, Aishwarya was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: Part 2 (2023). Fans are now eagerly awaiting her return to the big screen.