Amitabh Bachchan’s name, photo, and voice cannot be used without permission: Court

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s name, photo, voice or any other attributes cannot be used without his permission, the Delhi High Court directed on Friday.

The court said that the plaintiff, who is a well-known personality and is represented in various advertisements, is “aggrieved by the defendants using his celebrity status to promote their own goods and services without his permission or authorisation.”

“The plaintiff is aggrieved by the defendants using his celebrity status to promote their own goods and services without his permission or authorisation. Having considered the plaint, I am of the opinion that a prima facie case is made out," the court said.

The suit filed by Amitabh Bachchan sought to restrain mobile application developers who were conducting lotteries by unlawfully associating it with Bachchan’s popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, book publishers, T-shirt vendors and other businesses.

Justice Navin Chawla passed the interim order on the plea, saying, “I am of the opinion that the plaintiff has been able to make out a prima facie case in his favour. The balance of convenience also lies in favour of plaintiff and against the defendants.”

Senior Advocate Harish Salve appeared for Amitabh Bachchan. He began his arguments by showing the High Court details about a lottery by the name of All India sim card WhatsApp lucky draw, reported Bar and Bench.

“Lucky draw holder name – Amitabh Bachchan and Mukesh Ambani,” he told the High Court, adding that complaints have been filed that the lottery advertisement was a scam.

“I am just giving a flavour of what is going on. Someone is making t-shirts and started putting his face on them. Someone is selling his poster. Someone has gone and registered a domain name, amitabhbachchan.com. This is why we have come,” he added.

On the work front, Senior Bachchan has a number of projects at various stages of development, including Project K and The Intern. He is currently seen in Sooraj Barjatya’s Uunchai (2022).