Noting that celebrities also have a right to privacy, the Delhi high court on September 20 passed a blanket order restraining the misuse of the name, image, voice and other attributes of persona, including the catchphrase ‘Jhakaas’ (from Yudh) of Anil Kapoor, for commercial gain or for tarnishing his image.
Justice Pratibha M. Singh observed, “Courts can’t turn a blind eye to such misuse of celebrity persona.” She also barred the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to morph his image or use it for GIFs for monetary gain, adding that these violated his rights. The ex parte interim order was passed against several websites and platforms on a lawsuit by the actor who alleged unauthorised exploitation of his personality and celebrity rights for commercial use. Ameet Naik of Naik Naik & Co., and Pravin Anand of Anand and Anand argued on behalf of the actor.
Last year, Amitabh Bachchan had filed a suit seeking protection of his personality rights on the grounds that his name, voice and images were being misused by third parties. The Delhi high court had granted an ex parte ad interim order protecting Bachchan’s personality rights, effectively restraining others from misusing the actor’s personality and publicity rights.
Anil Kapoor approached the court after seeing YouTube shorts featuring AI generated “deepfake” videos which superimposed his face on other actors. The Union ministry of electronics and information technology was also asked to issue blocking orders against pornographic videos which used morphed images of the actor.