The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed the Rs 1 crore lawsuit filed by Tamannaah Bhatia against Power Soap Limited for alleged unauthorised use of the actress’s image on their product even after the expiry of the contract.

As per the division bench of Justices P Velmurugan and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi, the court upheld an earlier single-judge ruling, quoting that Bhatia had failed to establish that the company used her images on its products beyond the contract period.

The legal fallout dated back to the 2008 agreement, which states that the company was permitted to use the actress’s images on their products for promotion till the expiry of the contract in October 2009.

However, Bhatia argued in her appeal that despite the expiry of the contract, the company continued using her images on product wrappers, in advertisements, and in online listings around 2010-2011, thereby affecting her commercial prospects and causing losses while she was negotiating with competing brands.

The 36-year-old actress sought Rs 1 crore in damages and a permanent injunction, barring further usage of her images on the company’s product items for promotional purposes.

However, a single-judge bench stated that the materials provided by the actress to support her claim were insufficient to substantiate her appeal and failed to establish a connection between Power Soaps and the alleged misuse of Bhatia’s images.

The single-judge bench, in its verdict, concluded that Tamannaah’s appeal failed to be upheld due to credible evidence and thus dismissed her lawsuit and appeal for a permanent injunction.

The Division Bench has now upheld the findings of the single-judge bench.