Amitabh Bachchan’s pics, voice, name cannot be used without his permission: Delhi HC
The Delhi High Court on Friday passed an interim order stating that Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan’s photo, voice, and name cannot be used without permission. The court was hearing a petition filed by the actor, also known as Big B, “against the world at large” seeking to protect his “name, image, voice, and personality attributes”.
The court has also directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and telecom providers to remove flagged content.
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Face on t-shirts, posters
“I am just giving a flavour of what is going on. Someone is making t-shirts and started putting his face on them. Someone is selling his poster. Someone has gone and registered a domain name, amitabhbachchan.com. This is why we have come,” senior Advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for Mr Bachchan, said according to NDTV.
“It cannot seriously be disputed that the plaintiff (Bachchan) is a well-known personality and is also represented in various advertisements. The plaintiff is aggrieved by the defendants using his celebrity status to promote their own goods and services without his permission or authorisation. Having considered the plaint, I am of the opinion that a prima facie case is made out and the balance of convenience also lies in his favour,” Justice Navin Chawla said.
Interim order
“The plaintiff is likely to suffer irreparable loss and harm. Some of the activities may even bring his disrepute. In view of the above, an ex-parte ad interim order is passed, ” Justice Chawla said.
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The suit stated that Bachchan’s name, image and voice were being used by mobile application developers to conduct lotteries by illegally associating with Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC).
Bachchan has also sought a restraining order against book publishers, T-shirt vendors, and various other businesses.
