On Tuesday, Bollywood film actor Jackie Shroff approached the Delhi High Court (HC) to restrain firms, social media channels, AI apps and GIF-making platforms from using his name, voice, image or any other attribute without his consent. According to Intellectual Property India, Shroff holds the trademark Bhidu across multiple classes, along with Apna Bhidu and Bhidu Ka Khopcha. He had applied for the trademark in April 2016.
According to Bar and Bench, Jackie Shroff’s lawyer Pravin Anand told the court that in some cases, his images and his voice has been misused to create offensive memes. He also mentioned that in some cases, pornographic material is created using Shroff’s personality. Anand said that Shroff was not looking to stop parody or satire, but wanted a restrain against merchandising, defamatory and distorted uses of his personality.
According to Bar and Bench, Justice Sanjeev Narula heard the case in-depth and gave the defendants summons to defendants. The Court announced that on May 15, it will consider the case connected to the temporary restraining.
Similar suits have been filed earlier by Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor.