Delhi High Court protects personality rights of Telugu actor Mohan Babu

The Delhi High Court on Friday passed an interim order protecting the personality and publicity rights of Telugu actor Mohan Babu [Manchu Bhaktavatsalam Naidu Alias Mohan Babu Vs Phanmantu & Ors]..The Court has restrained various social media accounts, Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots as well as e-commerce websites from misusing the actor’s name, voice or image.Justice Mini Pushkarna, who heard the case, noted that Mohan Babu had made a prima facie case for interim relief. The Court added that irreparable damage may ensue if an order is not passed to restrain others (defendants) from misusing Babu's personality rights."The defendants, their associates, servants and other related persons are restrained from creating, publishing and communicating to the public any content that infringes the personality rights of the plaintiff,” the Court, therefore, ordered. .Further, the defendants have been directed not to use AI, the Metaverse or any other format or medium to infringe Mohan Babu's personality rights by using his voice, image or likeness without authorisation.The Court added that no goods can be sold using the actor’s personality rights without his authorisation. Google has also been directed to take down any content that Mohan Babu has claimed to be violative of his personality rights. The case will come up for hearing next in May 2025. .In October 2024, Mohan Babu’s son Vishnu Manchu approached the Delhi High Court and obtained similar relief.Mohan Babu is a veteran Indian actor, producer, and former politician. Born on March 19, 1952, as Manchu Bhaktavatsalam Naidu, he began his career as a school teacher before entering the film industry. Mohan Babu has appeared in over 500 films, and has received numerous accolades, including the prestigious Padma Shri in 2007 for his contributions to Indian cinema. Apart from acting, Mohan Babu is also runs the Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Institutions in Andhra Pradesh. He has been embroiled in a controversy in the recent past over property disputes with his younger son Manoj Manchu. During a December 10 altercation related to this property dispute - concerning their farmhouse in Jalpally, near Hyderabad - Mohan Babu is also alleged to have physically assaulted a TV9 reporter who was covering the family dispute. An FIR was then filed against Mohan Babu, who later tendered an unconditional apology to the reporter. .Over the last year and a half, many celebrities have approached the Delhi High Court for protection of their personality rights. The trend began with Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor obtaining an order restraining social media channels, e-commerce websites and people at large from infringing on his personality and publicity rights. Kapoor’s efforts to fight AI related misuse of his personality rights were recently recognised by Time Magazine.Earlier this year, Jackie Shroff obtained similar relief from the Delhi High Court. Mohan Babu was represented by Advocates Pravin Anand, Ameet Naik, Ajai Garg, Dhruv Anand, Udita Michelle Patro, Dhananjay Khanna and Alvin Antony from law firm Anand & Naik.