After Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor filed a lawsuit
at the Delhi High Court to restrain the use of his name, image, voice, and
overall persona without his explicit permission. This restriction applies to
people at large, social media channels and websites.
In
most cases, people use the image of actors and popular characters they play to
promote their businesses. This was done in the case filed by Amitabh Bachchan,
where his image and voice were used illegally by app developers to conduct
lotteries by associating them with the popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati
(KBC).
Kapoor's suit extends beyond his name to the acronym
AK as well as the names of popular characters he has played over his extensive
career. This includes "Lakhan", "Mr India", and "Nayak".
The phrase "Jhakaas" is also included in his filing.
The actor has also claimed that generative AI tools
are being misused to "prejudice is hard-earned goodwill and reputation,
Justice Prathiba M Singh heard the actor's plea in
the Delhi HC today, where the court passed an omnibus order to protect Kapoor's
personality and publicity rights.
The court stated that no one would be allowed to use
the actor's name, image, voice, signature or likeness without his explicit
consent for commercial purposes.
Moreover, the court acknowledged that the actor has
a unique manner of saying the phrase "Jhakhaas", which will be
protected.
Domains carrying the actor's name will also be
suspended and immediately blocked.