Delhi HC protects personality, publicity rights of filmmaker Karan Johar

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has protected the personality and publicity rights of filmmaker and producer Karan Johar by restraining several websites and platforms from illegally using his name, image and persona for commercial gains.

Justice Manmeet P S Arora granted an ex-parte ad interim injunction in Johar's favour and said he has established a prima facie case and the balance of convenience also lies in his favour and against the defendants.

"On a prima facie assessment, it is evident that the infringing websites and platforms have unauthorisedly exploited and misappropriated the plaintiff’s voice, name and image for commercial gain, resulting in infringement of the plaintiff’s personality rights; and thus, liable to be injuncted," the court said.

On a prima facie assessment, the court said the videos, memes and social media posts available on the platforms of defendant Nos. 7 (Pinterest, Inc.), 14 (Google LLC) and 15 (Meta Platforms) contain abusive and profane words as well as innuendoes, which appear to be offensive.

"The said content tarnishes the reputation and goodwill of the plaintiff affecting his brand value. The plaintiff is prima facie entitled to seek injunction to protect his personality rights against such negative use," it said.

"This court is of the prima facie opinion that if an injunction is not granted in favour of the plaintiff, irreparable loss and harm would be caused to the plaintiff’s reputation," the court said in its order passed on September 17 and made available on Friday.

The court restrained defendants Perfect Privacy LLC and Giphy from publishing any material which infringes the personality rights of Johar and directed them to take down the infringing URLs mentioned in the suit.

IT further directed defendant Godaddy India Web Services Private Limited, which provided an 'AI Voice Swap Generator' regarding Johar and featuring his image, to suspend and lock the impugned domain name for the website.

It also restrained certain websites from unauthorisedly selling or facilitating the sale of merchandise which infringes the personality rights of Johar.

"The plaintiff will be at liberty to approach defendant Nos. 14, 15 and 16 (X) for taking down any mirror or identical content as well as social media accounts using his name which comes to its attention in future," the court said.

The court issued summonses to several online platforms and websites on Johar's lawsuit and asked social media intermediaries -- Meta Platforms and others -- to provide Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) along with IT log details.

The interim order was passed on several issues raised by Johar, including unauthorised sale of merchandise with his name and image, disparity and obscenity, domain name, impersonation and fake profile.

Besides protection of his personality and publicity rights, Johar had also urged the court to pass an order directing certain websites and platforms not to illegally sell merchandise, including mugs and T-shirts, bearing his name and image.

He filed the suit claiming that various entities have been using his name, image, persona and likeness without his consent for monetary gains.

The right to publicity, popularly known as personality rights, is the right to protect, control and profit from one's image, name or likeness.

Johar's plea came after the high court heard and passed interim orders on the plaints filed by actor couple Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. PTI SKV AMJ AMJ