Actress Tabu has moved the Delhi High Court to seek legal protection for her personality and publicity rights, becoming the latest Bollywood star to take such a dispute to court. In her petition, she has asked the court to stop anyone from using her name, photograph, face, voice, personality traits or any other identifying feature for commercial gain without first taking her permission, and has sought an injunction against such unauthorised use.
Hearing held before Justice Jyoti Singh
The petition came up before the single bench of Justice Jyoti Singh. During the hearing, the court flagged certain technical shortcomings in how the details of the parties named in the petition had been filed. The bench observed that accurate and clearly stated information about every party involved is essential if the matter is to be heard fairly. Following this observation, senior advocate Swati Sukumar, who is representing Tabu, was directed to file a revised memo of parties before the court. The case will next be taken up for hearing on August 6.
Several other stars have already gone to court
Tabu is far from the first celebrity to seek this kind of protection from the courts. In recent times, stars such as Arijit Singh, Shilpa Shetty, Aishwarya Rai and Jackie Shroff have all knocked on a court's door over concerns about the misuse of their identity. After Arijit Singh's case, veteran singer Asha Bhosle also secured relief in a similar personality rights dispute, after she filed cases against two separate AI platforms for misusing her identity.
Rising misuse of AI and deepfakes
Tabu's move comes at a time when AI-generated fake videos, deepfakes, counterfeit advertisements and the unauthorised commercial use of celebrities' identities are all rising sharply. A number of celebrities have said in recent months that their photographs and names are being used across digital platforms without their consent, a trend they say is hurting both their public image and the commercial value of their personal brand.
On the work front
As for her work, Tabu was last seen on screen in the film Bhoot Bangla. In this horror comedy, she played the lead role alongside Akshay Kumar. The film was directed by Priyadarshan and was well received at the box office, going on to post a healthy collection in theatres.
