The Delhi High Court on Monday granted an interim order protecting the personality rights of the Bollywood actor and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, Jaya Bachchan. The order prevents various entities from using her name, image, or likeness without authorisation.
The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, who was due to hand down a detailed order, stated that it would not immediately restrict the use of Bachchan’s images on film posters, noting that the copyright for such material resides with the film’s owner.
“How do you claim copyright in the movie posters? Copyright vests in whoever is the owner of the movie, not even hurting you. You don’t even have any copyright. Let them be here. I’m not persuaded. This is a poster. Let that party be here. We’ll hear him out and we’ll see. I’m not convinced,” Justice Arora said.
Justice Arora ordered the issuing of blocking directives against websites found to be misusing Bachchan’s persona, and directed that the website owners and domain name registrars (DNRs) be formally added as parties to the case.
The court also granted Bachchan liberty to file an amended claim within two days, having identified several clerical and typographical errors in the original submission. The matter has now been adjourned until 16 April for a further hearing.
“I will issue the injunction… Issue blocking orders with respect to the websites. I will issue directions that you will make websites and DNRs as parties,” the judge stated.
Allegations of misuse
The order was granted in a suit filed by Bachchan seeking protection of her publicity and personality rights, alleging that her image and persona were being exploited to sell merchandise and for unlawful commercial gain.
Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, representing Bachchan, argued that in addition to exploiting her likeness for the sale of goods, several entities were also creating AI-generated videos and sexually explicit material featuring her.
Sethi informed the court of specific instances of misuse, noting that the first defendant had published morphed images, the second defendant was selling merchandise using her picture, defendants four and five were selling infringing products, and defendant seven, a YouTube channel, had uploaded defamatory content about her.
The Delhi High Court has recently extended similar protective injunctions to other high-profile actors, including Jackie Shroff, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Akkineni Nagarjuna, and filmmaker Karan Johar.
In 2023, the court prevented the misuse of actor Anil Kapoor’s name, image, voice, and his signature catchphrase “jhakaas,” following a precedent set in November 2022 when it similarly safeguarded the personality and publicity rights of veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan.
Jaya Bachchan, personality rights, Delhi High Court, copyright, Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Karan Johar
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