Arjun Kapoor vs Artist Booking Company & Ors.
- Court
- Delhi High Court
$~O-35
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
# CNR No. DLHC010183642026
+ CS(COMM) 454/2026 and I.A. 11961/2026, I.A. 11962/2026, I.A.
28706/2026
Date of Decision: 14.10.2026
IN THE MATTER OF:
ARJUN KAPOOR
701 RAHEJA ORCHID
N.S. ROAD NO. 9, J.V.P.D. SCHEME
JUHU, MUMBAI – 400049 .....PLAINTIFF
Through: Mr. Pravin Anand with Mr. Dhruv
Anand, Mr. Dhananjay Khanna &
Ms. Bhavya Verma, Advocates.
versus
ARTIST BOOKING COMPNY
ARISA MAHAL, NO.8 WALKESHWAR ROAD
MUMBAI – 400006, MAHARASHTRA .....DEFENDANT NO.1
VINSM GLOBE PRIVATE LIMITED
E-48/4, OKHLA INDUSTRIAL AREA
PHASE-II, NEW DELHI
DELHI – 110020 .....DEFENDANT NO.2
ICE POSTER
1903 60TH PL E STE M4058
BRADENTON, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
.....DEFENDANT NO.3
THE BOLLYWOOD TEE SHOP
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 1 of 9
2 OLGA COURT, NG3 2NH
UNITED KINGDOM .....DEFENDANT NO.4
ETSY
ETSY IRELAND UC
5TH FLOOR, ONE LE POLE SQUARE
SHIP STREET GREAT
DUBLIN 8, IRELAND .....DEFENDANT NO.5
REDBUBBLE
111 SUTTER ST, 17TH FLOOR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
ALSO AT:
LEVEL 12, 697 COLLINS STREET
DOCKLANDS, VICTORIA 3008
AUSTRALIA .....DEFENDANT NO.6
MEDIA STOREHOUSE LTD.
THE WENTA BUSINESS CENTRE
COLNE WAY
WATFORD
WD24 7ND .....DEFENDANT NO.7
DREAMWORLD DIGITAL SHOPING PVT LTD
FLAT NO. 902, SHEIL TOWER
YARI ROAD, NEAR SAI GANESH MANDIR
ANDHERI WEST, MUMBAI
MAHARASHTRA 400061 .....DEFENDANT NO.8
@MIXED BROADCAST
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/@MIXEDBROADCAST9516/
THROUGH
YOUTUBE
THROUGH RESIDENT GRIEVANCE OFFICER
HAVING ITS INDIA LIAISON OFFICE AT
UNIT NO. 26, EXECUTIVE CENTRE
LEVEL 8, DLF CENTRE
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 2 of 9
SANSAD MARG, NEW DELHI 110001 .....DEFENDANT NO.9
@TOP NOTCH V
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/@VIKASRWT07
EMAIL: [email protected]
THROUGH
YOUTUBE
THROUGH RESIDENT GRIEVANCE OFFICER
HAVING ITS INDIA LIAISON OFFICE AT
UNIT NO. 26, EXECUTIVE CENTRE
LEVEL 8, DLF CENTRE
SANSAD MARG, NEW DELHI 110001 .....DEFENDANT NO.10
@COOLPBVIDEOSUSINGAIARTIFIC4096
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/@COOLPBVIDEOSUSINGAIA
RTIFIC4096
THROUGH
YOUTUBE
THROUGH RESIDENT GRIEVANCE OFFICER
HAVING ITS INDIA LIAISON OFFICE AT
UNIT NO. 26, EXECUTIVE CENTRE
LEVEL 8, DLF CENTRE
SANSAD MARG, NEW DELHI 110001 .....DEFENDANT NO.11
GOOGLE LLC
FOR
YOUTUBE
THROUGH RESIDENT GRIEVANCE OFFICER
HAVING ITS INDIA LIAISON OFFICE AT
UNIT NO. 26, EXECUTIVE CENTRE
LEVEL 8, DLF CENTRE
SANSAD MARG, NEW DELHI 110001 .....DEFENDANT NO.12
BOLLYWOOD BAATEIN
HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/PROFILE.PHP?ID=615715009
02510
PHONE NO.: 095228 84994
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 3 of 9
EMAIL: [email protected]
THROUGH
META PLATFORMS, INC
A212-C, OFFICE NO. UG12
TIRUPATI PLAZA, SHAKARPUR
NEW DELHI, INDIA – 110092 .....DEFENDANT NO.13
INDIAN CINEMA BEAUTY
HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/INDIANCINEMABEAUTY
EMAIL: [email protected]
THROUGH
META PLATFORMS, INC
A212-C, OFFICE NO. UG12
TIRUPATI PLAZA, SHAKARPUR
NEW DELHI, INDIA – 110092 .....DEFENDANT NO.14
BEAUTY REDEFINED - ACTRESS
HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BEAUTYREDEFINEDACTRE
SS/
PHONE NO.: 080561 24676
EMAIL: [email protected]
THROUGH
META PLATFORMS, INC
A212-C, OFFICE NO. UG12
TIRUPATI PLAZA, SHAKARPUR
NEW DELHI, INDIA – 110092 ....DEFENDANT NO.15
META PLATFORMS, INC
A212-C, OFFICE NO. UG12
TIRUPATI PLAZA, SHAKARPUR
NEW DELHI, INDIA – 110092 .....DEFENDANT NO.16
MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
(GOVERNMENT OF INDIA)
ELECTRONICS NIKETAN
6, CGO COMPLEX
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 4 of 9
LODHI ROAD
NEW DELHI – 110003 .....DEFENDANT NO.17
DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
(GOVERNMENT OF INDIA)
NO – 210 & 306, 318, 507, 708, 917
SANCHAR BHAWAN, NO – 20
NEW DELHI – 110 003 .....DEFENDANT NO.18
JOHN DOE(S) .....DEFENDANT NO.19
Through: Mr. Jayesh Kalebere, Advocate for
D1 via VC.
Mr. Aditya Gupta with Mr. Rohith
Venkatesan & Ms. Angela Arora,
Advocates for D12.
Mr. Varun Pathak with Mr. Vidshesh
Sharma & Ms. Ananya Gogoi,
Advocates for D16.
Mr. Satya Ranjan Swain, CGSC with
Mr. Naveen, Advocate for D17 & 18.
CORAM:
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV
J U D G E M E N T
PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV, J. (ORAL)
1. The plaintiff has approached this Court seeking various reliefs on the
ground that, by virtue of his hard work and artistic calibre, he has been
acquired personality rights which, according to him, cannot be exploited or
misused by any third party, particularly without his consent.
2. The plaintiff has set out various instances to demonstrate that he
enjoys personality rights and has established a distinct identity in society.
For the sake of brevity, it is not considered necessary to reproduce the entire
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 5 of 9
narration contained in the plaint. More importantly, none of the defendants
has controverted the factual averments made by the plaintiff in the plaint. In
these circumstances, it is pertinent to note that, vide interim order dated
29.04.2026, this Court passed the following directions:
“47. Accordingly, the following directions are passed:
i. The defendant nos.1 to 11, 13 to 15, and 19 (John Does), their
associates, servants, agents, affiliates, holding companies, assignees,
substitutes, representatives, group entities, their subscribers,
employees and/or persons claiming through them or under them are
restrained from violating the plaintiff‟s personality/ publicity /moral
rights by utilizing in any manner directly and/or indirectly, using or
exploiting or misappropriating the plaintiff‟s (a) name „Arjun
Kapoor‟; (b) image and likeness; and (c) any other attributes of his
persona which are exclusively identifiable with him for any
commercial and/or personal gain and/or otherwise by exploiting them
in any manner without the plaintiff‟s consent and/or authorization,
and/or using or exploiting or misappropriating the plaintiff‟s
performances, through the use of any technology including but not
limited to Artificial Intelligence, Generative Artificial Intelligence,
Machine Learning, Deepfakes, Face Morphing, Superimposing and on
any mediums and formats;
ii. The defendant nos.1 to 11, 13 to 15, and 19 (John Does), their
associates, servants, agents, affiliates, holding companies, assignees,
substitutes, representatives, group entities, their subscribers,
employees and/or persons claiming through them or under them are
restrained from creating, sharing, disseminating, any product
(including but not limited to T-shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, posters,
mugs, mousepads, etc.); content (including audio-visual content,
images, videos etc.) through the use of any technology including but
not limited to Artificial Intelligence, Generative Artificial Intelligence,
Machine Learning, Deepfakes, Face Morphing, Superimposing and on
any mediums and formats, including but not limited to the physical
medium, the virtual medium such as websites, Metaverse, social media
etc.;
iii. Defendant nos.3 to 16 are directed to take down all links/websites
provided by the plaintiff in Document 1, 2 and 3 attached with the
present application which unlawfully infringe the plaintiff‟s
personality/publicity rights as also defendant no.12 to disclose the
Basic Subscriber Information of the YouTube channels which are a
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 6 of 9
part of „Document-2‟ appended to the application, and defendant
no.16 to disclose the Basic Subscriber Information of the Facebook/
Instagram accounts which are a part of „Document-3‟ appended to the
application.”
3. Summons were issued to the defendants, and the parties were directed
to complete the pleadings. During the course of hearing, it was pointed out
that defendant nos. 5 and 6 had already been deleted from the array of
parties. Defendant no. 1 has also filed an application seeking deletion of its
name from the array of parties on the ground that it has already complied
with the interim directions. In view of the aforesaid developments, learned
counsel appearing for the plaintiff submits that there is no likelihood of the
defendants being permitted to continue to infringe the plaintiff’s personality
rights and, therefore, the suit may not warrant a full-fledged trial.
4. It is further submitted that the other intermediary and social media
platform are also unlikely to have any objection to complying with the
directions issued by this Court.
5. This Court has perused the impugned links and the material placed on
record and is satisfied that the same are being used without the plaintiff’s
consent and for commercial exploitation.
6. This Court has considered the aforesaid submissions and finds that
none of the defendants has come forward to controvert the averments made
in the plaint. In the absence of any written statement or affidavit of
admission/denial of documents, the averments contained in the plaint are
liable to be treated as admitted, and the documents filed therewith are
deemed to stand admitted in terms of Rule 3 of Chapter VII of the Delhi
High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018. Consequently, no disputed question
of fact arises which would necessitate a trial.
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 7 of 9
7. The defendant nos.1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15 have already
been proceeded ex parte . This Court in the case of Rajat Sharma & Anr. v.
Tamara Doc & Ors. has protected the personality and copyright interests of
artists against unauthorised use or exploitation and has decreed their
respective suits and has held as under:
“11. Plaintiffs shall be at liberty to approach Defendant No. 9/Meta
Platforms Inc. and Defendant No. 17/Google LLC, copying their
respective counsels on record with the relevant details of any subsequent
discovered URLs and/or content as applicable, relating to subject matter
of the present suit including direct or indirect misuse, misappropriation or
exploitation of the name, likeness, image, voice, photos, videos or any
other aspect of Plaintiff No. 1‟s persona, which amounts to infringement of
his personality and publicity rights and/or his copyright and trademark.
Plaintiffs shall provide the concerned Defendant(s) with supporting
particulars/documents demonstrating that such URLs and/or content, as
applicable, form the subject matter of the present suit, on an affidavit.
Upon receiving such request with details of relevant URL(s) and/or
content, as applicable, the concerned Defendant(s) shall independently
examine and evaluate Plaintiffs‟ request and act in terms of their
respective policies. Concerned Defendant(s) shall acknowledge the
request within 24 hours and take action within 36 hours thereafter. In
case, the concerned Defendant(s) does not act upon the request made,
Plaintiffs shall be at liberty to approach the Court to seek appropriate
directions in that regard.”
8. The Court thus finds that the instant suit too deserves to be decreed in
the following terms:
(i) Defendant nos. 17 and 18 are directed to take down the infringing
links attributable to defendant no. 3 that continue to remain active, as
referred to in prayer clauses (i) to (iv) of the plaint. Defendant nos. 17 and
18 are further directed to take down the infringing links specified in prayer
clauses (v) to (viii) of the plaint. The interim directions dated 29.04.2026,
insofar as they concern defendant nos. 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14 and 15, are
hereby made absolute.
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 8 of 9
(ii) The plaintiff shall be at liberty to approach defendant no.9/Meta
Platforms Inc. And defendant no.110/Google LLC, copying their respective
counsel on record, with the relevant details of any subsequently discovered
URLs and/or content relating to the subject matter of the present suit,
including direct or indirect misuse, misappropriation or exploitation of the
name, likeness, image, voice, photos, videos or any other aspect of the
persona of plaintiff, which amounts to infringement of his personality and
publicity rights and/or the registered trademarks of plaintiff. The plaintiff
shall provide the concerned defendant(s) with supporting
particulars/documents, on an affidavit, demonstrating that such URLs and/or
content form the subject matter of the present suit. Upon receiving such
request, the concerned defendant(s) shall independently examine and
evaluate the same and act in terms of their respective policies. In case the
concerned defendant(s) do not act upon the request, the plaintiff shall be at
liberty to approach this Court to seek appropriate directions.
9. Let the decree sheet be drawn up accordingly.
10. The suit stands disposed of, along with the pending applications.
11. The next date of hearing fixed before the Joint Registrar i.e.,
14.12.2026, stands cancelled.
PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV, J
OCTOBER 14, 2026
tr/ksr
Signature Not Verified
Signature Not Verified
Signed
By:PURUSHAINDRA
KUMAR KAURAV
Signed By:NEHA CHOPRA
Signing Date:17.10.2026
17:27:23
CS(COMM) 454/2026 Page 9 of 9