Karan Johar Moves Delhi High Court Over Misuse of His Name and Images
After Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, filmmaker and TV personality Karan Johar has also moved the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights in the case Karan Johar v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors.
The matter came up for hearing today before Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora. Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, representing Johar, argued that his photographs and name were being misused on multiple websites and social media pages to mislead people and even raise funds.
“These are pages and websites carrying my images and name without permission. Various platforms are filled with such misuse,” Rao submitted.
On the other hand, Meta Platforms (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) argued that many posts flagged by Johar were ordinary comments or memes and not defamatory. Advocate Varun Pathak, appearing for Meta, warned that granting a blanket injunction would open the “floodgates of litigation.”
“These are common people making jokes or sharing views. Dragging them to court for every comment is not feasible,” Pathak stated.
Justice Arora also noted that not every fan page could be ordered to shut down. She explained the distinction between disparagement, memes, and commercial misuse.
- Memes, she observed, are not necessarily insulting.
- Selling merchandise or using a domain name in Johar’s name, however, could be considered misuse.
The judge hinted that the Court may pass orders to take down specific pages identified by Johar. If similar violations occur later, Johar can report them to social media platforms first, and approach the Court if action is not taken.
Rao, however, insisted that Johar has the right to decide whether there should be only one fan page in his name and that no one should profit from memes or content built around his persona without consent.
The matter will be taken up again at 4 PM today.
