The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Navin Chawla on Friday granted ad interim ex parte injunction in favour of senior actor Amitabh Bachchan in a suit filed by him claiming violation of his ‘publicity
rights as a celebrity’
The veteran actor sought protection of his publicity rights against the fake Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) lottery scam and other online frauds where his photo and voice are being misused to deceive the public. KBC, the official Hindi adaptation of the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” franchise is currently in its 14th season. Senior Bachchan hosted all the seasons bearing the 3rd season.
After hearing the petitioner counsel, the bench held that a good prima facie case is made by Senior Bachchan in his favour for grant of an ad-interim ex-parte injunction against fake lottery scams.
“The defendants appear to be using plaintiff’s celebrity status for promoting their own activities, without his authorization or permission. The plaintiff is, therefore, likely to suffer grave irreparable harm and injury of his reputation. In fact, some of the activities complained of may also bring disrepute to him,” the order read.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve along Anand & Anand Managing Partner Pravin Anand, lawyer Ameet Naik appeared for Amitabh Bachchan.
Salve said besides the lottery, domain names were registered under the actor’s name; there was “Amitabh Bachchan Video Call” and even T-shirts bearing his photographs.
The court also directed telecom service providers to block access to telephone numbers circulating infringing messages.
The defendants in the suit as reported by LiveLaw are as follows:
– defendant no. 1 (Rajat Nagi): allegedly operating websites and mobile apps by misappropriating the actor’s photographs or other characteristics.
– Defendant no. 2 (Rana Partab Singh): allegedly found circulating messages through Whatsapp in which the actor’s photograph is affixed along with an infringing text about KBC Lotteries.
– Defendant no. 3 (Manoj Publications): a publisher allegedly found commercially dealing in a General Knowledge quiz book on various e-commerce platforms.
– Defendant no. 4 (Swag Shirts): an entity allegedly found dealing in T-shirts through its website https://www.swagshirts99.com prominently bearing actor’s photographs on clothing items.
– Defendant no. 5 (Tamatina): entity allegedly found dealing in wall posters bearing the actor’s photographs and likeness.
– Defendant no. 6 (Raghu Sharma): domain name registrant of the website www.amitabhbachchan.com
– Defendant no. 7 (GoDaddy.comLLC): registrar of domain name www.amitabhbachchan.com
– Defendant no. 8 (Mahesh Patel): Registrant of the domain name www.amitabhbachchan.in
– Defendant no. 9 (Dynadot LLC): registrar of www.amitabhbachchan.in