Jackie Shroff, the Indian actor, took legal action against several entities for illegally exploiting his name and iconic qualities for advertising purposes. Objecting to his character and public image being used commercially without permission to sell products or as the subject of “degrading” memes and GIFs produced by artificial intelligence (AI), including with Marathi slang ‘Bhidu’, was one of the allegations that he made in his suit. Additionally, they have also been accused of infringing on his trademark rights which include using the marathi slang ‘Bhidu’.
Jackie Shroff – The Word Bhidu needs trademark protection
Delhi High Court Justice Sanjeev Narula is said to have summoned the concerned parties mentioned above, fixing the issue for a hearing on Wednesday. These individuals were also alleged by Shroff’s counsel to have engaged in misleading practices which make consumers believe they are endorsed by this renowned actor who has acted in over 200 films. “Jackie Shroff is so well known. People will think it is endorsed by him… He has a certain marketability to his name…. It can’t be done without his consent”, says NDTV India quoting the counsel.
The court was informed that unauthorized articles such as mugs, autographed posters and bags were being sold online which infringed upon Mr Shroff’s rights. In addition, there are memes and morphed pictures that are distributed without consent over there; hence she urged the judge to stop content derogatory towards her client from spreading further. “All are using his name, images and earning huge money.” This is all defamatory stuff…” There are distasteful dirty words in voice over.” There is nothing legitimate about any of this,” added the advocate.
Some defendants reportedly ceased their unlawful use of Shroff’s personality traits after filing suits against them. He has not spoken about it yet although Jackie Shroff has been in other language films.
