New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI): Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is mulling sending a legal notice to telecom firm Bharti Airtel alleging that the company violated copyrights in using his photo and voice without authorisation.
Airtel, however, said it had sought permission from Bachchan's representative.
In his blog, Bachchan has written that a notice will be going to Airtel "for their blatant misuse of my face (photograph) and the announcement of a facility that they had advertised on television."
The incident relates to a recent plan launched by Airtel, which promises its users an opportunity to talk to Bachchan, popularly called the 'Big B'.Bharti Airtel said it is open to discussing the issue with him, and pointed out that its signature tagline itself was "baat karne se hi baat banti hai" (things take shape through talks).
"We're sorry if you feel hurt," Airtel said, adding that there was some miscommunication on the part of Inside India, which represents Bachchan for all rights regarding his voice on the mobile platform.
All due process was followed, Airtel said, adding that "at every stage, we sent the material for review to your representatives at Inside India – they approved the modality of the event, they approved the commercial terms and the promo."
Besides, Bachchan is also going to send notices to the managers of Vog and Bachchan Bol, for not seeking his permission before putting out the content on national TV.
"For an unpardonable infringement from such a large conglomerate I do hope that the legal notice shall serve as a lesson for my colleagues and fraternity that our rights and privileges cannot be misused in such a blatant manner," the filmstar wrote on his blog.
"I also do hope that the law of the land shall observe with some gravity, these misdemeanours and give us the protection and justice that such occurrences deserve," he said.
Besides Airtel, Bachchan said Sony television would send legal notice to Lakshmi Foods which used the KBC set up and his voice imitation to sell its basmati brand of rice.