Delhi High Court Appoints Amici Curiae In Personality Rights Suit Filed By Bollywood Actors Janhvi Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi
Court will decide broader issues concerning publicity rights, particularly “over-broad” prayers involving defamation or satire.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday appointed amici curiae in the personality rights suit filed by Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani appointed Advocate Gautam Bhatia as amicus in Kapoor's suit whereas Advocate Rohan Alva has been appointed as amicus in Oberoi's case.
The Court will be deciding the broader issues involved in the matters concerning publicity rights, especially where such matters involve "over-broad" prayers touching upon other elements like defamation or satire.
The Court said that it will be hearing the matters on the said issues in October.
During the hearing today, the counsel appearing for Kapoor said that as per earlier order, various URLs have been categorized under the heads of: content that is ex-facie pornographic and sexually vulgar; content that directly monetises her personality rights; and content using her name and likeness to indirectly promote the sale of merchandise and services.
The counsel informed Court that 1400 URLs have been identified wherein sexually vulgar content has been posted against Kapoor on social media platforms.
He requested that the Court must consider prayer of take down of the said content on an earlier date.
The Court then said that it will hear Kapoor's case on the issue of takedown of sexually explicit content this month itself.
Earlier, the Court had directed removal of pornographic content against Kapoor while refusing to pass a blanket order of removal or take-down of all 6884 URLs that have been made subject matter of the suit.
IndiaLaw LLP through its partners Asav Rajan and Abha Shah represented Kapoor.
In Oberoi's case, a coordinate bench had passed a john doe interim order protecting his personality rights in February. The Court had restrained the entities from misappropriating and exploiting his personality and publicity rights, including his name, image, voice, likeness and other distinctive attributes, through artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.
Title: Janhvi Kapoor v. John Does & Ors & other connected matter