Anil Kapoor and “jhakaas”, the way he says it, are exclusive to each other. On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court restrained 16 online entities from infringing upon the actor's personality rights, including the manner of using the catchphrase “jhakaas”, a Mumbai slang that he popularised in movies, observing that modern technological tools, including Artificial Intelligence, make it possible for anyone to misuse a celebrity's persona. The court passed the interim order while hearing a lawsuit filed by the 67-year-old actor against misuse of his image, name, voice, likeness or other elements of his persona for financial gains without his consent. A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh, in the interim order, observed that “fame for a person can come with its own disadvantages”, adding that Kapoor's case shows that “reputation and fame can transcend into damage for a person”. As Kapoor's lawyer Pravin Anand pointed out that what was interesting was that “it's not 'jhakaas' alone, it's the way he says it with a twisted lip”, Justice Singh said this is what the court has to protect and not the word itself. “The technological tools now available make it possible for any unauthorised user to make use of celebrities' persona, by using such tools including Artificial Intelligence. The celebrity also enjoys the right of privacy and does not wish that his or her image, voice is portrayed in a dark manner as is being done on porn websites,” the court said. Justice Singh said that while there can be no doubt that free speech about a well-known person is protected in the form of write-ups, parody, satires and criticism, which is genuine, but when the same crosses the line and results in tarnishing, blackening or jeopardising the individual's personality and elements associated with them, it would be illegal. “Using a person's name, voice, dialogue and image in an illegal manner, that too for commercial purposes, cannot be permitted. The celebrity's right of endorsement could in fact be a major source of livelihood for the celebrity. Any form of misuse or commercial use of a celebrities name, voice, persona, likeness has been shunned by the Supreme Court in the seminal judgment called the Auto Shankar case,” the court said. Justice Singh said Kapoor's image being morphed along with other actresses is “not merely offensive” to him alone but also to third party celebrities and actresses. “The court can't turn a blind eye to such misuse of a personality's name and other elements and dilution, tarnishment are all actionable torts which Kapoor would have to be protected against,” she said. “The creation of ringtone and GIF images for commercial gains is also complete misuse. Under these circumstances, the court has no doubt in holding that the plaintiff's (Kapoor) name, likeness, image, persona deserve to be protected not only for his own sake but also for the sake of his family and friends who would not like to see his image, name and other elements misused, especially for such tarnishing and negative use,” Justice Singh said. The court also noted documents submitted by Kapoor's counsel pertaining to images of other famous personalities being used in a manner “which is totally offensive to their personalities”. Referring to an image of Mahatma Gandhi with a gun, the court observed that such images may constitute satire for some people but would be offensive to society in general. Noting that the plaintiff “has established a prima facie case for grant of ex parte injunction”, the court said, “The defendants no. 1-16 are restrained from in any manner utilising Anil Kapoor’s name, likeness, image, voice or any other aspect of his persona to create any merchandise, ringtones or any other manner misuse the plaintiff's name, likeness and other elements. either for monetary gain or otherwise.” It also restrained other unknown persons from disseminating videos, the links to which were attached to the plaint. “The said links will be taken down immediately by all Internet service providers. Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology upon receipt of this order shall issue blocking orders in respect of all these links and any other link which may upload pornographic videos in respect of the plaintiff,” Justice Singh said, listing the matter next on March 12.
