Filmmaker Karan Johar on Monday approached the Delhi High Court, seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights.

The plea came up for hearing before Justice Manmeet PS Arora, who sought certain clarifications from the counsel for Karan and listed the matter for 4 pm for further proceedings.

Besides protection of his personality and publicity rights, Karan has also urged the court to pass an order directing certain websites and platforms not to illegally sell merchandise, including mugs and t-shirts, bearing his name and image.

"I have a right to ensure that no one unauthorisedly uses my persona, face or voice," senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, appearing for Karan, said.

The right to publicity, popularly known as personality rights, is the right to protect, control and profit from one's image, name or likeness.

This comes after HC granted similar protection to actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. It restrained several websites and online platforms from illegally using the actors’ name or images for commercial gain without their consent.

The high court said it was clear that the attributes of their persona, including their name, images and signature, are being misused by the defendant websites and platforms without authorisation from him, by employing technological tools such as artificial intelligence.