Blitz Bureau
THE Delhi High Court has issued a temporary injunction to protect the personality rights of a well-known cardiac surgeon and chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd Devi Prasad Shetty.
The court also restrained known and unknown individuals from infringing the trademarks of Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd. Justice Mini Pushkarna was considering the plea of Shetty and Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd for a permanent injunction against various defendant entities restraining them from infringing of personality and publicity rights of Shetty, and further infringement of Narayana’s registered trademarks, misappropriation of goodwill, unfair trade practices, dilution and damages, among other reliefs sought, according to Live Law. Counsel for plaintiffs submitted that Shetty has received several accolades and recognition due to his contribution contributions to the field of affordable healthcare.
He further stated that Shetty has a US patent to his name, co-founded founded the College of Nursing, Asia Heart Foundation, was head of Karnataka’s Covid Task force during third wave of the pandemic and was featured in an episode of Netflix documentary series ‘The Surgeon’s Cut’.
It was argued that the content using the personality rights of Shetty may mislead the unsuspecting members of the public into purchasing health products promoted/ marketed using his persona or mislead the public into believing the unsubstantiated and unverified health tips. It was stated that such content would also cause harm to the hard-earned goodwill of the plaintiffs. Counsel submitted that Shetty is ‘a celebrity’ in his own right and thus has a valid and enforceable personality right.
