After Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, Delhi HC grants Jaya Bachchan interim protection over personality rights barring film posters

Actress Jaya Bachchan has been granted interim protection by the Delhi High Court, safeguarding her personality rights. The order restrains multiple entities from using her name, images, or likeness without authorisation, amid growing misuse on social media and online platforms.

Court hears Jaya Bachchan's plea

As reported by ANI, a bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was hearing Bachchan’s plea, which highlighted that “several social media accounts, YouTube channels and websites were misusing her name and persona for commercial gains.” Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Bachchan, informed the Court that AI‑generated videos, sexually explicit content, morphed images, and unauthorised merchandise were being used to exploit her identity.Sethi told the Court, “We don’t even know the name of the party who is selling it.” He added that the first defendant had published morphed images, the second defendant was selling merchandise using her picture, defendants four and five were selling infringing products, and defendant seven, a YouTube channel, had uploaded defamatory content.

Court clarifies limits on movie posters

During the hearing, Justice Arora noted that the use of Bachchan’s images on movie posters could not be immediately restricted, as the copyright belongs to the film’s owner.

The judge observed, “How do you claim copyright in the movie posters? Copyright vests in whoever is the owner of the movie, not even hurting you. You don’t even have any copyright. Let them be here. I’m not persuaded. This is a poster. Let that party be here.

We’ll hear him out and we’ll see. I’m not convinced.”

Court directs blocking of infringing websites

The Court ordered blocking actions against websites misusing Bachchan’s persona and instructed that the websites and domain name registrars be made parties to the case.

Justice Arora said, “I will issue the injunction… Issue blocking orders with respect to the websites. I will issue directions that you will make websites and DNRs as parties.”

Court allows filing amended plaint

The Court also gave Bachchan liberty to file an amended plaint within two days, pointing out clerical and typographical errors in the original filing. The matter is now listed for further hearing on 16 April.

Celebs who got protected earlier

Jaya Bachchan’s case forms part of a larger judicial trend to safeguard celebrity personality and publicity rights. Earlier, the Delhi High Court extended similar protection to actors Jackie Shroff, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Akkineni Nagarjuna, and filmmaker Karan Johar.