Delhi High Court Issues Collective Order to Prevent Using Anil Kapoor’s Image, Voice and Dialogue

Delhi High Court Issues Collective Order to Prevent Using Anil Kapoor’s Image, Voice and Dialogue

The actor had raised concern that AI tools were being used by individuals to prejudice his hard-earned goodwill and reputation

The Delhi High Court has passed an interim John Doe order restraining social media channels, e-commerce websites, and people in general from infringing on the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor.

(John Doe is a legal order that allows a person or entity to take legal action against an unknown party/parties. The order is often used when the identity of the person or entity being sued is not known at the time of the legal action being taken).

Justice Prathiba M Singh stated that unauthorized platforms could not be permitted to use Anil Kapoor’s name, voice, image, or dialogues in an illegal manner for commercial purposes. She restrained anyone on using his persona to create merchandise, ringtones, etc.

The Court also barred the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to morph his image as well as the use of his image in GIFs for monetary gains or commercial purposes where such activities were likely to violate Kapoor’s rights. It ordered domains including http://Anilkapoor.com to be immediately suspended and blocked.

The judge directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to issue a blocking order regarding pornographic videos uploaded using morphed images of the actor.

The Court was hearing a suit by the actor, who raised concern that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was being misused to prejudice his hard-earned goodwill and reputation. He contended that certain platforms were impinging on his exclusive rights to commercially benefit from his persona.

Kapoor sought to restrain the use of his name, the acronym AK, his voice, image, and his sobriquets like Lakhan, Mr India, Majnu Bhai, Nayak, and the phrase Jhakaas without his consent. The Hindi film star also sought directions to stop unauthorized sale/dissemination of products including keychains, t-shirts, and audio-visual content such as images, GIFs, and videos displaying his name or epithets.

On his plea, the bench stated, “This Court has no issues in holding that his (Anil Kapoor’s) name, persona, and likeness must be protected not only for his own sake but for the sake of his family, who do not want to see his name being used for tarnishing and negative use. The plaintiff has made out a prima facie case in his favor.”

Justice Singh observed that while free speech was protected in the form of write-ups, news, satire, criticism, and parody, which was genuine, the same could not be allowed to tarnish an individual’s personality.

She further stated, “When the same crosses the line and results in tarnishment, blackening, or results in jeopardizing the individual’s personality and elements associated with the said individual, the same would be illegal.”

The bench held that there was no justification for an unauthorized website or platform to mislead consumers into believing that they were permitted to bring Anil Kapoor as a ‘motivational speaker.’ In fact, the celebrities' right to endorsement could be a major source of livelihood, which could not be allowed to be destroyed by permitting illegal merchandise.

While referring to the misuse of artificial intelligence to distort Kapoor’s image, Justice Singh added, “The celebrity also enjoys the right to privacy and does not wish that his image, voice, and likeness is portrayed in a dark manner as is being done on porn websites. Using the plaintiff’s image with other actresses is not only (related) to the plaintiff but also to third parties. The Court cannot turn a blind eye to this.”

Appearing on behalf of Anil Kapoor advocate Pravin Anand apprised the Court that protection was being sought in respect to Kapoor’s image and his dialogue ‘jhakaas.’

Anand argued, “By using technology, people put Mahatma Gandhi with a gun and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as fat. I am able to show that these people are making money. Please see the image of Anil Kapoor as Katrina Kaif. There are images of Anil Kapoor as Sridevi. There are elements of tarnishment in that as well. Then there is his voice. There is refacing and photo-morphing. They have a blank image wherein you can substitute your image and make yourself stand next to Anil Kapoor. They are making money.”

The lawyer also pointed out that people were selling merchandise with references to Anil Kapoor without his consent. He said, “Lots of people are doing it. Someone is saying they can get Anil Kapoor as a motivational speaker.”

However, initially, the Court expressed reservations over whether it could restrain the use of the word ‘jhakaas.’ As Justice Singh held, “This ‘jhakaas’, you say it is Bambaiyya Hindi. If that is so, it can’t be protected.”

To this, Anand responded, “It’s about how he says it in a twisted way.”

The bench also questioned if such protection should be extended to Anil Kapoor since it may give room for other celebrities to claim similar relief. “If we do it for one actor, then other actors, actresses, and celebrities will also be entitled to it,” the Court stated.

Anand replied, “It depends, if they are being shamed, or used for porn, then yes, they will be entitled.”

The Court then added, “Then we will have to say that.”

The suit was filed through Anand & Naik while advocates Ameet Naik, Pravin Anand, Madhu Gadodia, Dhruv Anand, and Abha Shah appeared for Anil Kapoor.

In November last, the High Court passed a similar interim order in a case concerning Amitabh Bachchan, where the public was restrained from infringing the personality and publicity rights of the veteran Bollywood actor.