Delhi HC refuses instant personality rights to YouTuber Bhuvan Bam
The High Court said that on the first day of hearing it could not render a finding on personality rights.
The Delhi High Court has refused to immediately protect the personality rights of YouTuber Bhuvan Bam, who had approached court seeking to restrain various entities from commercially using his name, image or voice without consent.
A bench of justice Jyoti Singh observed that there could not be any finding on the infringement of personality rights on the first date of hearing. "I am of the view that such a finding on personality on the first date is not called for. No one can render a prima facie finding on personality rights, that is how I see it,” Justice Singh said.
However, the court passed an order directing the takedown of various images being used without his consent. Court was told that the use of Bam's persona, including his name, voice, image and likeness, to sell merchandise without his consent amounted to infringement of his personality and publicity rights, as well as violation of a registered trademark jointly owned by him and his company, BB Vines.
Earlier the High Court has protected the personality rights of many public figures, the most recent being Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan, wherein the High Court has restrained several defendants from unauthorisedly using his name, image, voice and likeness for commercial exploitation.
Recently, while granting interim relief to actor Ajay Devgn, the Delhi High Court had observed that individuals seeking removal of defamatory or unauthorised content should first approach social media intermediaries under the 2021 IT Rules before seeking injunctions from the Court. The Bench noted that most platforms do not resist taking down content that is defamatory, misleading or violative of personality rights.
The instant plea adds to a wave of similar petitions filed by public personalities to restrain unauthorised online monetisation of their likeness, voice and image. In recent months, actors Hrithik Roshan, Nagarjuna, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as well as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sudhir Chaudhary, Abhishek Bachchan and Karan Johar, have approached the Delhi High Court over misuse of their personality rights.