Anand And Naik Secure Victory For Jackie Shroff: Delhi High Court Upholds Personality Rights; Restrains Misuse Of Name, Image, And Voice

Anand And Naik Secure Victory For Jackie Shroff: Delhi High Court Upholds Personality Rights; Restrains Misuse Of Name, Image, And Voice

Anand and Naik represented Jackie Shroff as the Delhi High Court recently issued an order safeguarding the actor's personality and publicity rights. The Court restrained various social media accounts, AI chatbots, and e-commerce websites from using the actor’s name, voice, or image for any commercial purpose without his consent.

In an interim order passed on May 15, Justice Sanjeev Narula also mandated the takedown of numerous pornographic links that improperly used Shroff’s name.

The Court determined that Shroff's celebrity status grants him specific rights regarding his personality and associated attributes. It found that some defendants had exploited his name, image, voice, and other unique characteristics without authorization, thus infringing on his personality and publicity rights.

The Court also issued notices to several other defendants, including gif-making platforms and a restaurant named ‘Bhidu,’ for allegedly infringing on Shroff's personality rights and misusing his persona.

Initially, Shroff sought injunctions against these defendants as well, but his counsel later stated that the Court could consider passing orders against them after reviewing their responses.

However, at this stage, the Court refused to order the takedown of a video titled ‘Jackie Shroff is Savage, Jackie Shroff Thug Life,’ posted on the YouTube channel Thugesh. The video in question compiled publicly available interview clips of Shroff, with additions like the "Thug Life" caption and some visual embellishments.

Justice Narula ruled that the video is a form of artistic expression and that 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 said

In his plea, Shroff sought protection for the names Jackie Shroff, Jackie, Jaggu Dada, and Bhidu, asserting that his attributes cannot be used without his authorization on any platform.

Arguing for Mr. Shroff, Mr Pravin Anand told the court that a Copyright Claim (as raised by certain defendants) does not pre-empt a cause of action for personality rights, while citing the recent Anil Kapoor and the Amitabh Bachchan case which were also successfully argued by Anand and Naik.

Shroff approached the Court to protect his voice, image, likeness, and all other distinctive elements of his persona, arguing that the unauthorized use of these by third parties is likely to create confusion and deception among the public.

He claimed that various social media companies, stores, social media handles, and AI tools are using his attributes without authorization, profiting from such use, and damaging his reputation. Shroff asserted that the misappropriation of any aspect of his persona without his explicit permission for commercial purposes should be restrained, not only based on traditional publicity rights but also on the tort of dilution.

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.