Author: Princess Chopra, Institute of Legal Studies and Research, GLA University, Mathura

Charles Schwab has rightly quoted that, “Personality is to a man what perfume is to a flower”. The instances of the personalities of celebrities and influencers being misused are growing with the advent of the age of Artificial Intelligence and Deepfake technology. From Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to Kumar Sanu, all celebrities with their voice, images, and personality available to the public, face a major threat of their persona’s being misused. Personality Rights. J. Thomas McCarthy defines Personality Rights as “the rights of an individual to control the commercial use of their identity, including name, image, likeness, voice, and other distinctive personal attributes.” Therefore, Personality Rights being a major threat in today’s life, India lacks a comprehensive legal framework to address it.

India has no specific legal provision or statute which addresses or recognizes personality rights in India. This branch of human rights entirely depends on Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which provides the people with the Right to Life and Liberty. Personality Rights are also safeguarded under Intellectual Property Rights in India. Some of the safeguards under IP acts have been described below: -

1. Trademarks Act, 1999

In the context of Personality Rights, the Trademark Act also protects the names, signatures, and catchphrases of celebrities which hold a commercial value from being misused. Several celebrities have moved to court to protect their names and other distinct styles from being used illegally to mislead people.

In the case of Sourav Ganguly v. Tata Tea Ltd. (2000)Tata Tea, a popular tea brand, released a special pack of tea leaves and named it “Ganguly’s Special Pack”. Sourav Ganguly moved to court to prevent his name being used without his permission . The Calcutta High Court held that a Celebrity’s name which holds commercial value and is capable of having the consumers buy that product or services, simply because they believed that he had endorsed the product, deserved protection under law.

2. Copyright Act, 1957

Copyright act provides producers and performers of arts like drama and music, with the exclusive economic, moral, and paternal rights of their art. This act protects the work and voice of a person in the field of personality laws. When someone copies or exploits the artistic creation of a person without their permission, it creates a liability under copyright act, 1957.

In the case of D.M. Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v. Baby Gift House and Ors.The defendants were engaged in the business of doll-making. The defendants made a doll which resembled famous Hindi-Punjabi singer Daler Mehendi and also played a few lines of the songs of the singer. These dolls were sold under the name of “Daler Mehndi dolls”. The singer filed a complaint through his production company for the violation of his personality rights. The court recognized the misuse of Daler Mehendi‘s personality for the purpose of selling dolls by the defendants. The court examined this case under The Copyrights Act, 1957 as the 

The doll sang the compositions of the plaintiff without his permission and acquisition of rights. 

3. Benchmarks of Identity

Whenever someone approaches the judiciary to restore their rights of personality, the court always provides them with relevant solutions. Some of the Landmark cases in the arena of personality right are:

a. Gautam Gambhir v. D.A.P. & Co. and Ors.

Gautam Gambhir, a prominent player of International Cricket from India. The defendants were running a restaurant by the name and tagline “Blu Wavs by Gautam Gambhir”. This led the consumers to believe that the restaurant belonged to the cricketer Gautam Gambhir. One such instance where a Consumer ordered food for himself from the app ‘Zomato’ believing that the restaurant belonged to the plaintiff. The defendants after these misleading claims, also went ahead to open multiple other branches. Following these incidents, the plaintiff finally approached the Court for the misuse of his personality rights by defendants. The defendants replied that Gautam Gambhir was also the name of their co-founder. The court refused to issue an injunction but recognized the personality rights of the celebrities and how much value it holds.

b. Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India & Ors. 

In October 2023, the appellant, Anil Kapoor, a famous Bollywood actor, approached the Delhi High Court for protection from the misuse of his personality, image, name and iconic phrases, by several people and organizations in memes, television, etc. without his permission. The court issued an Ashok Kumar or John Doe order, prohibiting any person from misusing the personality and persona of the plaintiff.

c. Titan Industries Ltd. V. Ramkumar Jewelers

Titan Industries, a brand under Tata, which sells jewelry under the name “Tanishq”. The brand, Tanishq, was endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan for its diamond jewelry. The plaintiff published these advertisements in newspapers, hoardings, etc. The defendant, Ramkumar Jewelers, had copied the artistic details as well as the picture of Mr. and Mrs. Bachchan in their advertisement of the store. The court accepted the plea of the plaintiff over the paternity of the original advertisement under Copyright Act, 1957.

In a country like India, where digitalization is at its peak and the availability of personal data online poses a very big threat of misuse, the laws related to personality rights are a must. There is no specific right in India that addresses such problems but different legislations like Trademark Act, 1999 and Copyright Act, 1957 do cover some types of violation of personality rights under them. The judiciary, through its power to hear cases, has exercised its right to interpret differently under Article 21 in a broad manner. From Jackie Shroff to Gautam Gambhir, every celebrity is now approaching to protect their personality. The legislature should bring a specialized framework to address the problem of misuse of personality, which hurts the reputation of worthy individuals. Protection of personality is as important as protection of respect and dignity of a human being in the modern world.

• Ankit Rastogi, Gautam Gambhir v. D.A.P. & Co. & Ors., Indian Case Law (Sept. 24, 2020).

• Shamnad Basheer et al., Publicity Rights: Sourav Ganguly v. Tata Tea, SpicyIP (Sept. 5, 2020).

• King Stubb Kasiva, Mr. Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India & Ors., CS(Comm) 652/2023 & I.A. 18237/2023–18243/2023, King Stubb & Kasiva (Oct. 27, 2024).