Does the Bachchan name’s reputation pass down generations? Delhi HC asks
Court raises questions over whether family goodwill can be protected like a trademark while hearing Aaradhya Bachchan’s plea against allegedly fake social media content
Does reputation arising from one’s family name flow down generationally? The query was posed by the Delhi High Court on Thursday while hearing a lawsuit over publication of “misleading” content on social media about the daughter of actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
“If a family name is akin to having a reputation attached to a trademark, how far down the generations does such reputation of family name inure?” asked Justice Anup J Bhambhani.
Aaradhya Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan had filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging publication of “absolutely false” videos on YouTube in relation to the minor’s health and private life.
During the hearing on Thursday, Justice Bhambhani observed that the value of a trademark and its reputation was attached to a product or service but the case was “somewhat contextually different when you are talking about a person.”
“A certain last name has a reputation because of the achievements, the eminence in a certain field of work, etc. So, does that reputation, that you are couching as virtually as a trademark. Does that flow down generationally? If so, up to what point?” the judge asked.
The court also queried if publication of fake news, even if of “egregiously despicable nature”, could amount to violation of one’s intellectual property rights.
The counsel appearing for the plaintiffs submitted that if goodwill is intact, any attempt to propagate fake information or any other injury to that good has to be prevented.
“After a while, the goodwill may disappear. But here, the whole family’s pictures are used,” the lawyer said.
He also emphasised that fake news was being spread by using the Bachchan name.
On April 20, 2023, a single-judge bench restrained several YouTube channels from publishing misleading content on the health of Aaradhya Bachchan, saying spreading misinformation about a child reflects “morbid perversity” and Google cannot permit dissemination of such content.
It asserted that every child was entitled to be treated with honour and respect and dissemination of misleading information in respect of a child’s health was “completely intolerable in law.”
The matter would be heard next in September.
