In a recent case Amitabh Bachchan v. Rajat Negi and Ors.,^[1] the Delhi High Court (‘Delhi HC’), by way of an ex-parte ad interim Order dated November 25, 2022, recognized and protected personality rights of the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan and granted an omnibus order restraining the defendants (including unknown defendants) from infringing Mr. Bachchan’s personality or celebrity rights by misusing his name, likeness, photograph, voice and other personality traits and attributes, for commercial gain. Mr. Bachchan had alleged that his name, image and voice were being misused by way of messages over WhatsApp in relation to several fake Kaun Banega Crorepati game shows as well as certain lottery scams. It was also alleged that several domain names were being registered incorporating his name. The Delhi HC after analyzing the relevant evidence and arguments made, held that Mr. Bachchan was indeed a well-known personality and would suffer grave and irreparable harm to his reputation if the activities complained of were not restrained. Further, the Delhi HC also directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and internet service providers to take down all websites and links included in the plaint which infringe the personality rights of Mr. Bachchan, and also directed the Department of Telecommunications (‘DoT’) and the telecom service providers to block the telephone numbers which were being used to circulate messages over WhatsApp infringing Mr. Bachchan’s rights.

^[1] Amitabh Bachchan v. Rajat Negi and Ors., [CS(COMM) 819/2022].