Delhi High Court restrains misuse of personality attributes of Anil Kapoor

High Court on Wednesday restrained the misuse of the name, image, voice and other attributes of persona, including the ‘jhakaas’ catchphrase, of actor Anil Kapoor for commercial gain.
Justice Prathiba M Singh passed the ex-parte interim order against several websites and platforms in a lawsuit by the actor, alleging unauthorised exploitation of his personality and celebrity rights for commercial use.
Advocate Pravin Anand, appearing for Kapoor, said several websites and platforms have been misusing the personality rights of the plaintiff through various activities. Kapoor’s counsel pointed to the unauthorised sale of merchandise, the collection of fees by using his photograph as a motivational speaker, morphing his image in a derogatory manner, selling pictures with forged autographs, the ‘jhakaas’ catchphrase and others. The lawsuit sought to protect Kapoor’s personality rights concerning his name, voice, image, likeness, manner of speaking and gestures.
Justice Singh observed that while there can be no doubt that free speech is protected, the same would be illegal when it ‘crosses the line’ and results in tarnishing and jeopardising individual personality rights.
“Using the plaintiff’s name, voice, dialogue and image in an illegal manner, that too for commercial purposes, cannot be permitted. The court cannot turn a blind eye to such misuse of personality,” Justice Singh said.
“Defendants 1 to 16 are restrained from using in any manner the plaintiff Anil Kapoor’s name, likeness, voice or any other attributes of his personality - for monetary gain or otherwise,” the court ordered. It also restrained other unknown individuals from disseminating the offending links.