Amitabh Bachchan Wins Court Order For His Personality Rights
The court barred not just identified entities from using Bachchan’s persona, without his consent, but also passed an order against world-at-large from infringing his personality rights.
(Bloomberg) -- Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan won interim protection of his personality and celebrity rights from the Delhi High Court Friday.
The court barred not just identified entities from using Bachchan’s persona, without his consent, but also passed a John Doe order, or an order against world-at-large, from infringing his personality rights.
The lawsuit before the court flagged Bachchan’s name, voice, images, pictures, likeness and his “unique style of dialogue delivery” among the traits which fall under legal protection. Counsel for the actor told the court that mobile applications, telephone numbers and websites had mushroomed that monetized his images or likeness without permission.
“Personality right is a strong right to enforce for persons with high level of identifiability and strength of association,” said Eashan Ghosh, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights. “Both these factors hold true for Amitabh Bachchan.”
The victory for one of Bollywood’s biggest stars -- whose baritone voice and salt-and-pepper hair is recognized all over India -- opens the door for similar cases. Personality or celebrity rights are rights against unauthorized commercial use of one’s persona and have not been codified under any law in India.
The court asked the Indian government’s Department of Telecommunications and telephone service providers to take down web links and take action against parties identified in the case.
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