Amitabh Bachchan popularly known as Big B, voice is used by several brands and also in social media reels and Twitter videos. Undoubtedly, his baritone is loved by millions of his fans. And now Big B has moved to court saying that many people promote their own goods and services – from T-shirts and posters to lotteries and video call facilities without his permission. The actor has approached the court with a petition seeking to protect his unique personality.
Amitabh Bachchan's name, image, or voice can't be used without his permission says court
Justice Navin Chawla of the Delhi High Court on Friday issued an order restraining the use of Amitabh Bachchan's name, image, voice or any of his characteristics without his consent.
Advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for Mr Bachchan, argued, "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."
The lawyer further added that "There was also an Amitabh Bachchan video call app, where the caller could speak to a person who sounded like Bachchan. The description of the mobile facility, named 'Amitabh Bachchan Video Call', is available for download on mobile phones and states that "Amitabh Bachchan is a fake video call app and can also do voice chatting but that too prank call. Amitabh Bachchan is one of the biggest superstars of Bollywood.""
What does the law state?
The verdict also paves the way for the evolution of the law on personality rights in the country, which protects an individual's right to personality and publicity, rights under copyright and common law rights.
Court directs to pull down links, websites, apps unlawfully created without the consent of Mr Bachchan
The high court has directed the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to pull down all links and websites provided in the plea that unlawfully infringe Bachchan's publicity rights.
The HC has passed a detailed order against the defendants and the world at large, injuncting them from infringing his personality rights and attributes, including his name 'Amitabh Bachchan/ Bachchan/ AB/ Big-B', image and voice. The HC has also directed the DOT and Ministry of Electronics & IT to pull down flagged content.
People who have registered domain names in Bachchan's and conducted activities without the knowledge and consent of Big B will now be removed.
Furthermore, the court has directed, that people cannot register domain names such as www.amitabhbachchan.com and www.amitabhbachchan.in -- from creating third-party rights on them. The telecom service providers will have to block access to all phone numbers used by the defendants to circulate infringing messages.
Professional work
On the work front, Amitabh Bachchan is basking in the success of Brahmastra Part One: Shiva. He was also seen in Barjatya's Uunchai and Goodbye. The actor is busy hosting the popular game show KBC.
