The bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna issued interim orders against those misusing Manchu's image, including group entities, affiliates, and holding corporations, directing them to stop publishing defamatory content about the actor.
Published Oct 11, 2024 | 10:29 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 11, 2024 | 10:38 AM
Manchu Vishnu. (X)
The Delhi High Court recently passed a John Doe order favouring actor-producer Manchu Vishnu, protecting his personality rights against illegal exploitation.
A John Doe order is a legal order that allows a person or entity to take legal action against an unknown party or parties. The term “John Doe” is used to identify the unknown defendant in the order.
According to Lawbeat, Justice Mini Pushkarna was handling Vishnu’s suit seeking protection of his name, voice, image, likeness, and all other elements of his personality.
Advocate Pravin Anand representing Manchu Vishnu noted that, “His image was being juxtaposed with pictures of animals, along with ‘out of context’ excerpts from his interviews, to portray him in a bad light.”
Manchu Vishnu, who is also the president of MAA (Movie Actors Association) cited that his name “Vishnu Manchu” has garnered a significant amount of goodwill in the film industry. Citing these reasons, he stated that nobody can utilize or appropriate his name or any aspect of his personality without his consent and authorization.
The bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna issued interim orders against those misusing Manchu’s image, including group entities, affiliates, and holding corporations, directing them to stop publishing defamatory content about the actor. The court further prohibited such persons and companies from adopting formats and mediums such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Metaverse to commercially exploit the actor’s likeness or voice.
The court further asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to suspend the links and URLs of websites that engaged in such activities. The makers of some offensive YouTube videos containing the actor were ordered to take down the content. Furthermore, YouTube was advised to suspend these URLs in this case.
According to a Cinema Express report, the actor is now pursuing other actors and prominent film personalities to take similar action against trolling.
The order is part of a legal battle in which Vishnu Manchu sought a permanent injunction to prohibit defamation, copyright infringement, and commercial and personal usage of his picture.
Manchu Vishnu will be next seen in Kannappa, a mythological drama.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula)
