Delhi HC protects Abhishek Bachchan's personality rights, bars websites from illegally using name

Court has restricted to misuse Abhishek Bachchan's name

The Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan by restraining several websites and online platforms from illegally using his name or images for commercial gain without his consent.

The high court said it was clear that the attributes of Bachchan's persona, including his 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.

"These attributes are linked to the plaintiff's professional work and associations in the course of his career. The unauthorised use of such attributes has the effect of diluting the goodwill and reputation associated with him," Justice Tejas Karia said the September 10 order.

The high court said Bachchan has established a good prima facie case for the grant of an ex-parte injunction and the balance of convenience also tilts in his favour.

"The balance of convenience lies in favour of the plaintiff and if an injunction is not granted in the present case, it will lead to an irreparable loss or harm to the plaintiff and his family, not only financially but also with respect to his right to live with dignity," it said.

The court passed the interim order on a plea by Bachchan seeking to protect his personality rights and restrain online platforms from illegally using his name, images and AI-generated inappropriate and sexually explicit content.

On September 9, the high court also protected the personality rights of Bollywood actress and Abhishek Bachchan’s wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, by barring online platforms from illegally using her name, images for commercial gain.

The suit relates to misappropriation of various aspects of Bachchan's personality, including his name, image, likeness, persona and voice by the defendants for their commercial gains, without consent.

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

The court said use of technology to depict Bachchan in settings that are misleading, derogatory or inappropriate intrudes upon his right to privacy, and such misappropriation is further aggravated by the ease with which online content can be disseminated.

“The plaintiff being a celebrated personality in the Indian entertainment industry, has acquired significant goodwill and reputation for himself. Any infringement of the plaintiff’s personality rights will lead to dilution of the plaintiff’s reputation and goodwill that he has garnered over the years, while also causing confusion amongst members of the public regarding the authenticity, endorsement or sponsorship of a product or service by the plaintiff,” it said.

The court said it is well-settled that the unauthorised commercial exploitation of personality rights directly impacts the economic interests and dignity of the individual concerned, potentially causing irreversible injury to their reputation and goodwill. In such cases, judicial intervention becomes necessary.

It restrained the defendants from violating Bachchan’s personality rights or moral rights by using or exploiting or misappropriating his name, acronym 'AB', voice, image, likeness, performances and other attributes of his persona for any commercial or personal gain without his consent or authorisation.

The court also restrained the defendants from creating, sharing, disseminating any product, including clothes, T-shirts, coffee mugs, posters or content including audio-visual content, images, videos.

It directed Google to take down, remove and disable the URLs given in the application and to also file in a sealed cover or password-protected document all the "basic subscriber information" of the owners or operators and sellers of the goods.

The court further directed the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Telecommunications to issue necessary directions to block and disable all the URLs mentioned in the plea.

The different aspects of Bachchan's personality that he sought to protect include his name, voice, image, unique style of dialogue delivery and signature.

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The plea said misappropriation of any attribute of the plaintiff's persona without her express permission for a commercial purpose is liable to be restrained on the basis of the traditional conception of publicity rights.

The suit has arrayed as defendant entities -- Bollywood Tee Shop, Tee Public, Ice Poster, Top Pix, Wallpaper Cave, Wallpaper.com, GM Authentic Autos LLC, JS Sham Rock and Etsy.

Further, the plea has arrayed YouTube channels AI MH 39, Eat with Celebrities, Enjoy with Celebrities, All In 1 and Game with Giri, Google LLC, Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Department of Telecommunications.