Publicity Rights and Copyright Overlap

ABSTRACT
There is a quiet but growing tension at the heart of Indian intellectual property law, one that courts have been asked to resolve case by case, without the benefit of a clear statutory map. The right of publicity, which protects a person's interest in controlling how their name, image, and persona are used commercially, and copyright law, which protects original creative expression, have traditionally been treated as separate concerns. But in practice they keep running into each other. A photographer's ownership of a celebrity's image, an actor's stake in their screen persona, an AI company's claim over a synthesised likeness of a living person all of these situations sit uncomfortably at the boundary between the two regimes. This paper examines that boundary in the Indian legal context, drawing on statutory analysis, judicial decisions, and comparative insights from the United States and the United Kingdom. It argues that Indian law currently lacks the doctrinal clarity needed to resolve these conflicts, and that the time has come for a coherent legislative response. Without one, the law will continue to produce results that feel arbitrary and increasingly, results that fail to keep pace with technology.