The Delhi High Court on Monday said it would pass an order on September 17, on a plea by filmmaker and producer Karan Johar seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights. The plea came up for hearing before Justice Manmeet PS Arora, who said she would pass an order 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. “I will pass the order and list it on Wednesday,” the judge said.
About Karan Johar’s plea
Besides protection of his personality and publicity rights, Johar has 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. “I have a right to ensure that no one unauthorisedly uses my persona, face or voice,” senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, appearing for Johar, said. The right to publicity, popularly known as personality rights, is the right to protect, control and profit from one’s image, name or likeness.
KJo following Abhishek and Aishwarya’s lead
Johar’s plea came after the high court heard and passed interim orders on the plaints filed by Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her husband and actor Abhishek Bachchan seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. The counsel for Meta Platforms (owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) submitted that many of the comments flagged in Johar’s suit were not defamatory. Passing a blanket injunction will open floodgates for litigation, advocate Varun Pathak said. “These are ordinary people having comments and having discussions. Most of them are satire and jokes and not defamatory,” he said.
