Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan. file | Photo Credit: PTI
The Delhi High Court on Friday passed an interim order restraining it from infringing on the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan at large. Mr Bachchan approached the court seeking an omnibus injunction to protect his name, image, voice or any of his attributes without his consent, in any way or form.
The order was passed by a division bench of Justice Navin Chawla who noted that there is no doubt that the plaintiff is a well-known personality and is also represented in various advertisements. The judge observed that such misuse of the personality rights of the plaintiff by the defendants may cause irreparable harm to him.
In the over 900-page suit, the actor’s lawyer Harish Salve said Mr Bachchan’s name, image and voice were being used by several websites, instant messaging apps, mobile application developers and even T-shirt makers . The lawyer said that none of the people mentioned in the petition have ever taken any kind of consent from his client.
Some are selling lotteries using their pictures, while some are using their voices for mobile apps. One is using his photo to sell GK books. I am giving you an idea what is going on,” Mr Salve told the court.
In his prayer, the actor contends that the court may grant an order of permanent injunction restraining the defendants, their associates, servants, agents, associates, holding companies, group entities, their clients, employees etc. from infringing upon the personality/publicity rights of the plaintiff passes. His name is Amitabh Bachchan, Big B, AB, Bachchan, voice, image, any other characteristic that makes him particularly identifiable.
“Only the plaintiff has control over the commercial use of his personality and public rights such as his name, voice, image and other characteristics that are uniquely identifiable and associated with him. No one else may use them without his consent.” May be,” the petition said.
The actor requested the court to pass an order for damages of ₹2 crore in his favor and against the defendants for causing damage to his reputation and reputation. The petition sought an order to the DoT and MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) to remove all links and websites that infringed on Mr Bachchan’s personality rights.