Suniel Shetty Seeks Bombay High Court Protection Against Unauthorized Use of His Image

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty has moved the Bombay High Court seeking protection of his personality rights. He claims that numerous social media pages and websites are using his image to promote their businesses without his consent.

The matter was listed before Justice Arif Doctor, who reserved the order on Shetty's interim application for the takedown of the infringing content. Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, representing Shetty, submitted that even deepfake pictures of Shetty are being uploaded on the internet. Saraf also highlighted the commercial use of Shetty's images without any authorization.

"Please see there is a real estate agency. There is an astrology website, which puts his photographs. Then there are those real estate agencies who are using his photographs as intervals," Saraf submitted. The Court was also informed that gambling websites are using Shetty's photograph despite his lack of association with them.

"There is merchandise being sold, posters of his face, etc," Saraf added. It was further pointed out that Shetty's grandchild's photographs were created using deepfake technology and posted on social media.

"There is a photograph of him with a grandchild, which is a deepfake. It's not a real photograph," the Court was told. Alleging infringement, passing off, and misuse in merchandising, Shetty has sought the removal of content from social media and directions against various respondents. His counsel clarified that he is not pressing for the blocking of entire websites but is restricting the prayer to the removal of infringing content.

Saraf was briefed by a team from Parinam Law Associates, including Advocates Jani Jain, Monisha Bhangale, Bijal Vora, and Tamanna Meghrajani.