The City Civil Court has directed a Rajasthan mehndi manufacturer to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to an actress from Ahmedabad, Pooja Gor, for using her photograph on a product label without her permission.
Pooja Gor had sued Kanak Products of Rajasthan for selling the mehndi product with the label ‘Pratigya’ & bearing her picture.
She came to know about the label in 2011 & filed a suit for copyright violation, seeking Rs 20 lakh in damages with 18 per cent interest.
She submitted in Court that she became famous after playing a role in a TV serial “Man ki Awaz — Pratigya”. In public, she was known as Pratigya. She contended that Kanak Products’ conduct was nothing but fraud & also an infringement of her copyright with regard to her photograph. She said it was blatant piracy of her photograph & an invasion on her goodwill & reputation. She further submitted that any use of her photograph by the company was unsanctioned & illegal under the provisions of the Copyright Act & under common law. It was argued that the Actress is the true & lawful owner & proprietor of any picture or photograph of hers. Gor can restrain any person, firm or company from committing any act of infringement of copyright.
The Court direction came 9 years after she filed the suit. The Court accepted her contention but said that she could not bring on record the evidence regarding the business of the firm in selling the product with a disputed label. So it was difficult to compute the damages done. But for the infringement of copyright, the Court ordered the company to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation with 6 per cent interest from 2011. The Court has also issued directions to the company not to continue the use of Gor’s photograph for its product label.
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