Karan Johar moves Delhi High Court to protect his personality rights

After similar moves by Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, filmmaker and TV personality Karan Johar has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights [Karan Johar v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors].

The case was heard today when Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao appeared for Johar and alleged that his name was being misused to raise funds.

"These are websites where my photos are downloaded. Various pages on various [social media] platforms are in my name," he said.

Meta Platforms (owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) told the Court that many of the comments flagged in Johar's suit are not defamatory. Passing a blanket injunction will open floodgates for litigation, Advocate Varun Pathak stressed.

"These are ordinary people having comments and having discussion. Now to drag them to Court for making an ordinary joke," he said.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora agreed and said that not every fan page can be ordered to be blocked or taken down.

“Mr Rao, you have to look at two things, one is disparagement, which is different from memes. Memes are not necessarily disparaging. Then somebody is selling merchandise. Third is your domain name. Please specifically identify it, the Court will consider it. I think Mr Pathak is right, it cannot be every fan page. We cannot have an open-ended injunction,” Justice Arora said.

Rao contended that Johar has the right to decide whether he can have only one fan page.

"There is a line between making fun...The platform becomes responsible. The more the memes, the more viral it is, the more money you make...I have a right to ensure that nobody uses my persona, or my face, characteristics without my consent. The fact that I chose to look the other way does not give any carte blanche to others," he said.

After hearing the case for some time, the Court hinted that it may pass take down orders for specific pages, and if similar pages are noticed at a later stage, Johar can bring those to the notice of the social media platform, which may act on it.

"If they don't, you come to court," Justice Arora added.

The matter will be heard at 4PM today.