The Delhi High Court on Wednesday passed an interim John Doe order restraining social media channels, e-commerce websites and people at large from infringing on the personality and publicity rights of actor Anil Kapoor.
The Court ordered that unauthorised platforms cannot be permitted to use Anil Kapoor's name, voice, image or his dialogue in an illegal manner for commercial purposes.
Justice Prathiba M Singh passed the order restraining anyone from using Anil Kapoor's name, likeness, voice or any aspect of his persona to create merchandise, ringtones etc.
The Court also barred the use of artificial intelligence tools to morph his image as well as the use of his image in GIFs for monetary gains or commercial purposes where such activities are likely to violate Kapoor's rights.
The Court further ordered that domains such as http://Anilkapoor.com be immediately suspended and blocked.
Further, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) was ordered to issue a blocking order with respect to pornographic videos uploaded using morphed images of the actor.
The Court was hearing a suit by Anil Kapoor raising concern that AI was being misused to prejudice his hard-earned goodwill and reputation, and to impinge on his exclusive rights to commercially benefit from his persona, he contended.
He sought to restrain the use of his name, the acronym AK, his voice, image, as well as his sobriquets like Lakhan, Mr India, Majnu Bhai, Nayak and the phrase Jhakaas without his consent.
He also sought directions to stop unauthorised sale/dissemination of products like keychains, t-shirts, etc. and audio-visual content like images, GIFs and videos etc.
"This court has no issues in holding that his (Anil Kapoor's) name, persona and likeness has to be protected not only for his own sake but for the sake of his family who do not want to see his name being used for tarnishing and negative use ... The plaintiff has made out a prima facie case in his favour," the Court ruled today.
Justice Singh observed that while free speech is protected in the form of write ups, news, satire, criticism and parody which is genuine, the same cannot be allowed to tarnish an individual's personality.
"When the same crosses the line and results in tarnishment, blackening or results in jeopardising the individual's personality and elements associated with the said individual, the same would be illegal," the Court said.
The Court further held that there is no justification for an unauthorised website or platform to mislead consumers into believing they are permitted to bring Anil Kapoor as a 'motivational speaker.'
"The celebrities' right to endorsement could in fact be a major source for livelihood which cannot be allowed by destroyed by permitting illegal merchandise," the judge added.
Referring to the misuse of artificial intelligence to distort Kapoor's image, the Court added,
"The celebrity also enjoys right to privacy and does not wish that his image, voice, likeness is portrayed in dark manner as is being done on porn website. Using plaintiff's image with other actresses is not only to the plaintiff but also to third parties. The Court cannot turn a blind eye to this."
Advocate Pravin Anand appeared for Anil Kapoor today and told the Court that protection is being sought in respect of Kapoor's image and his Jhakaas dialogue
"Using technology people put Mahatma Gandhi with a gun, PM Modi as fat. ... I am able to show these people are making money. Please see the image of Anil Kapoor as Katrina Kaif ... There are images of Anil Kapoor as Sridevi. There are elements of tarnishment in that as well. Then there is his voice. There is refacing, photo morphing. They have blank image you can substitute your image and make yourself stand next to Anil Kapoor. They are making money," Anand argued.
Anand also pointed out that people are selling merchandise with references to Anil Kapoor without his consent.
"Lots of people are doing it. Someone is saying they can get Anil Kapoor as motivational speaker," Anand said.
The Court initially expressed reservations over whether it can restrain the use of the word "Jhakaas."
"This Jhakaas, you say it is Bambaiyya Hindi. If that is so, it can't be protected," Justice Singh observed.
"It's about how he says it in a twisted way," Anand replied.
The Court also questioned if such protection should be extended to Anil Kapoor since it may give room for other celebrities to claim similar relief.
"If we do it for one actor, then other actors, actresses and celebrities will also be entitled to it," the Court said.
"Depends, if they are being shamed, used for porn then yes, they will be entitled," Anand responded.
"Then we will have to say that," the Court added before dictating its order.
The suit was filed through Anand & Naik. Advocates Ameet Naik, Pravin Anand, Madhu Gadodia, Dhruv Anand and Abha Shah appeared for Anil Kapoor.
In November last year, the High Court passed a similar interim order in a case concerning Amitabh Bachchan, where the public was restrained from infringing the personality and publicity rights of the veteran Bollywood actor.
[Read live coverage of the hearing today]