Actress Tamannaah Bhatia has suffered a major setback after the Madras High Court dismissed an appeal by her seeking Rs 1 crore in damages from Power Soaps
Limited over the alleged unauthorised use of her images. The ruling brings to conclusion a long-running legal dispute, with the Court upholding an earlier decision which had found her claims void, unsupported by credible evidence. As per a report in Bar And Bench, the Tamannaah Bhatia vs Power Soaps controversy dates back to 2008, when Tamannaah entered into an endorsement deal with Power Soaps. Under the terms of the contract, the company was permitted to use her photos to promote its soap products for the duration of a year. The agreement was slated to end in October 2009. According to theStree 2 actress, the trouble began after the agreement expired. The actress alleged that the company continued to use her images on product packaging, in advertisements and even across online platforms during 2010 and 2011 without her consent. Tamannaah argued that his continued usage not only was in violation of the terms of the agreement, but also harmed her professional prospects. She claimed that at the time she was in conversation with competing brands and the alleged unauthorised association with Power Soaps negatively impacted her commercial value. On this basis, Tamannah sought Rs 1 crore in damages and also requested a permanent injunction to restrain the company from any further usage of her images. However, the case faced a significant hurdle in court due to the quality of evidence presented. The single judge who had initially heard the case closely examined the materials submitted by Tamannaah , including product wrappers, a purchase document and certain internet listings. However, the Court found these materials to be unreliable and insufficient to establish that Power Soaps had indeed continued using her images after the end of the contractual period. Crucially, there was no clear proof linking the alleged advertisements or products directly to the company during the disputed period. Thus, the judge dismissed Tamannaah’s suit, stating that her claims were not substantiated with verifiable evidence. The court further rejected her request for an injunction, ultimately dismissing the case with costs. Unhappy with the decision by the single judge court, Tamannaah moved an appeal before a Division Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising Justices P Velmurugan and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi. The two re-examined the findings of the single judge and after reviewing the records, the Division Bench found no reason to interfere with the earlier ruling. It agreed that Tamannaah had failed to establish that Power Soaps used her images beyond the agreed contractual period.
