Jaya Bachchan’s Personality Rights Protected By Delhi HC, No Immediate Restriction On Use Of Movie Posters

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Bollywood actor and parliamentarian Jaya Bachchan has secured protection for her personality rights from the Delhi High Court. The court’s latest order comes as part of her ongoing effort to prevent the unauthorised use of her name, image, and voice for commercial purposes. However, the bench has clarified that it will not immediately restrict the use of her images on movie posters, citing copyright ownership issues. The decision makes Jaya Bachchan the fourth member of the Bachchan family to approach the court to safeguard their publicity and personality rights.

Jaya Bachchan's personality rights protected by Delhi HC

On Monday, a bench of Justice Manmeet PS Arora issued an order protecting Jaya Bachchan’s personality rights, restraining entities from using her name, image, or voice commercially without her consent. However, the judge refused to impose an immediate restriction on the use of her image in film posters, observing that the copyright for such material lies with the film producers or owners.“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,” Justice Arora said.

More about Jaya Bachchan's lawsuit

The court was hearing a suit filed by Jaya Bachchan seeking to safeguard her publicity rights, claiming that her likeness was being misused for illegal commercial purposes, including the sale of merchandise and the creation of AI-generated videos. Her counsel, senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, argued that the actor’s persona had been exploited online, with some entities even producing sexually explicit material using her image.The Delhi High Court’s order follows similar actions taken by other members of the Bachchan family. Earlier, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan had approached the court to prevent the unauthorised use of their names, likenesses, and voices. All three were granted injunctions protecting their personality rights.The court is expected to issue a detailed order soon, further outlining the extent of protection granted to Jaya Bachchan while also addressing the legal nuances around copyright in film posters and promotional material.