Bombay HC Asks Amazon to Take Down Film Over Use of Actor’s Photo Without Consent

Press trust of india

NEW DELHI: The Bombay high court has directed the Amazon Prime Video platform to take down the Telugu film, V, until the makers of the film delete a scene in which an actor's photograph was allegedly used without prior permission.

Justice Gautam S. Patel on Tuesday heard a defamation suit filed by model and actor Sakshi Malik against Venkateshwara Creations Pvt Ltd for allegedly using her photograph without permission in their movie. The film released on Amazon on September 5, 2020.

LiveLaw has reported that that case dates back to 2017 when Malik commissioned a photographer to prepare her photo portfolio. The actor shared some of those photos on her Instagram account.

Malik's advocate Saveena Bedi said Venkateshwara Creations Pvt Ltd had used her photo without her permission in the film, representing her photo as that of a commercial sex worker in the story.

According to the suit, this was an unauthorised invasion of privacy and unauthorised use of private material.

“It seems to me self-evident that it is not possible to use the image of any person for a commercial purpose without express written consent. If images are to be used without such express consent, they must be covered by some sort of legally enforceable and tenable licensing regime, whether with or without royalty. Simply using another's image, and most especially a private image, without consent is prima facie impermissible, unlawful and entirely illegal. In a given case, it may also be defamatory, depending on the type of use,” the court said.

The order copy was made available on Wednesday.

“The fact that the image has been illicitly used is bad enough. It only makes matters worse when used in a plainly derogatory and demeaning vein,” Justice Patel said.

The court directed the OTT platform to take down the movie within 24 hours until the scene is deleted.

“It is not acceptable for them (movie's makers) to merely pixelate or blur the images. The entire sequence, which has the image of the plaintiff (Malik), is to be removed immediately,” Justice Patel said.

Malik's advocate Bedi had argued that the actor has a huge fan following on social media and has also appeared in a few Bollywood songs.

Justice Patel in the order noted that the contentions raised by Malik and her lawyer were correct.

“Indeed, I do not believe there is any other way of looking at it,” the order said.

The defendant claimed that they had contracted with an agency to procure the image and had assumed that prior approval would have been taken from the woman, whose photo was to be used.

The court, however, noted that this argument of the defendant seemed “less than compelling”.

“Surely any right-thinking motion picture producer would have insisted on seeing an approval or consent by the model or person who is featured or to be featured,” Justice Patel said, adding that this must be the standard procedure everywhere.

The court said once the defendant has made the necessary alteration and deletion, the same will have to be shown to Malik and her advocate.