Delhi High Court protects personality rights of Jackie Shroff; restrains misuse of name, images, voice

The Delhi High Court recently has passed an order protecting the personality and publicity rights of actor Jackie Shroff and restrained a bunch of social media accounts, Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots as well as e-commerce websites from misusing the actor’s name, voice or image for any commercial purpose without his consent [Jaikishan Kakubhai Saraf alias Jackie Shroff v The Peppy Store & Ors]..In an interim order passed on May 15, Justice Sanjeev Narula also ordered take down of a bunch of links which were pornographic in nature and used Shroff’s name.The Court held that Shroff’s status as a celebrity grants him certain rights with respect to his personality and associated attributes, and some of the defendants have utilised his name, image, voice and other unique characteristics without permission thereby infringing on his personality and publicity rights..The Court also issued notice to several other defendants including gif making platforms, a restaurant named ‘Bhidu' and others alleged to be infringing on Shroff's personality rights and misusing his persona.Initially, Shroff had sought injunction against these defendants as well but his counsel later said that the Court can consider passing orders against them after examining their response.However, at this stage, the Court refused to direct a take down of a video titled ‘Jackie Shroff is Savage, Jackie Shroff Thug Life’ posted on a YouTube channel named Thugesh. The video in question had compiled publicly available interview clips of Shroff with additions like Thug Life in the caption and some accompanying visual embellishments.Justice Narula held that the video is a form of artistic expression and restricting it would have far-reaching consequences.“More critically, it could set a precedent that stifles freedom of expression, potentially deterring the public from exercising their right to free speech due to fear of legal repercussions,” the Court saidIt will hear the matter next on October 15. .In his plea, Shroff sought protection of the names Jackie Shroff, Jackie, Jaggu Dada as well as Bhidu and said that his attributes cannot be used without his authorisation on any platform.Shroff moved the Court to protect his voice, image, likeness and all other elements of his persona which are distinctive and the “unauthorized use of which by third parties is likely to create confusion and deception amongst the public”.He argued that several social media companies, stores, social media handles as well as AI tools are using his attributes without authorisation and not only making money from such unauthorised use, but also creating confusion and damaging his reputation..He contended that the misappropriation of any attribute of his persona without his express permission for a commercial purpose is liable to be restrained not only on the basis of the traditional conception of publicity rights but also on the basis of the tort of dilution. .Notably, in 2022, the High Court had passed an interim order restraining persons at large from infringing the personality and publicity rights of veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.Bachchan had approached the High Court seeking an omnibus order protecting his name, image, voice or any of his characteristics without his consent.A similar order was passed on the case filed by actor Anil Kapoor as well..Advocates Pravin Anand, Ameet Naik, Dhruv Anand, Madhu Gadodia, Udita Patro, Rinku Gajria, Sampurnaa Sanyal, Sujoy Mukherjee, Ashotosh Upadhyaya, Nimrat Singh, Tarini Kulkarni and Dhananjay Khanna Anand and Naik appeared for Jackie Shroff. Defendant No 1, The Peppy Store was represented by advocates Shikha Sachdeva, Kriti Rathi and Annie Jacob. Advocates Sharat Kapoor, Shubh Kapoor, Anirudh Dusaj and Bhavyah Garg represented Defendant No 2, Frankly Retail Private Limited. Defendant No 10, Tenor Inc was represented by advocates Shruttima Ehersa, Rohan Ahuja, Diva Viswanath and Rahul Choudhary. Advocates Aditya Narayan Mahajan and Kara Aggarwal appeared for Defendant No 14, Zedge Inc. .[Read Order]