In India, Personality Rights/Publicity Rights have not been defined under any statute. In its most basic sense, it could be understood to mean the right of an individual to protect and control their image, name and identity.
Personality Rights may be said to be intertwined with the concept of the right to privacy and can also be considered as a subset of the right to privacy.
As mentioned above, since no law in India defines ‘personality rights’, the courts have sought to protect/recognise personality rights by invoking the provisions of Article 19(1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Read along with the relevant intellectual property laws in force in India.
Position in India
Recognition of personality rights in India can be considered to be of recent origins.
- The Supreme Court of India in the matter of R. Rajagopal & Ors vs State of Tamil Nadu [AIR 1995 SC 264], or famously known as the Auto Shankar case, though in regard to the right of privacy had stated that an individual holds the right to safeguard his privacy, alongside that of his family, marriage, procreation, motherhood, childbearing and education among other matters. It was further held that no one can publish anything concerning the above matters without the consent of such citizen, whether truthful or otherwise and whether laudatory or critical.
- Following the above judgment in Auto Shankar’s case, the Delhi High Court in the matter of Phoolan Devi vs Shekhar Kapoor [MANU/DE/0486/1994] was concerned with a case where the Plaintiff had sought an injunction against the release of a movie by the Defendant, which in fact was based on the Plaintiff’s life as a bandit.
- The Plaintiff therein had alleged that the movie portrayed facts, more particularly of her being raped, which were not true. The Defendants had inter alia argued that the Plaintiff, being a public figure, had no right of privacy. Relying on Auto Shankar’s case and certain agreements which were entered into between the Plaintiff and Defendant, the Court held that the Defendants were not given a license to make a film in total disregard to the Plaintiff’s right to privacy. The Court further noted-
“38.. In modern times media, particularly films play an important role in influencing the course of thinking and the apprehension of plaintiff, that depiction of the plaintiff in a way as she has been portrayed in the film will bring her to ridicule, humiliation, more so, when she had married and wants to start a life of her own apart from other far-reaching effects which plaintiff would face which have been mentioned earlier..”
- One of the early judgments dealing with the right of publicity can be said to be the case of ICC Development (International) Ltd. Vs Arvee Enterprises & Ors [MANU/DE/0053/2003] The Delhi High Court ruled that the right of publicity derives from the right of privacy and is applicable specifically to an individual or any aspect of their personality, such as their traits, name, signature, or voice. The court stated that this right belongs exclusively to the said individual.
- In the matter of Titan Industries vs Ramkumar Jewellers [MANU/DE/2902/2012], the Delhi High Court defined a ‘celebrity’ to mean a famous or a well-known person. The Court further observed that when the identity of a famous personality is used in advertising without their permission, it is the right to control when, where and how their identity is used, which would get infringed.
- Further, in the matter of D.M. Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Vs Baby Gift House & Ors [MANU/DE/2043/2010], the Delhi High Court was concerned with the infringement of the right of publicity of Daler Mehndi. In this case, Daler Mehndi had assigned all his rights, title and interest in his personality inherent in his right of publicity to the Plaintiff company. The Plaintiff’s case identified that the Defendants were involved in the selling of dolls which were cheap imitations of Daler Mehndi. The Court held that to avail the rights against infringement of the right of publicity, two considerations must be satisfied. Firstly, Plaintiff must be ‘identifiable’ from the defendant’s unauthorised use. Secondly, such use should be in a manner sufficient to show that there has been a misappropriation of the Plaintiff’s persona resulting in unearned commercial gains. The Court held that the Defendants had used Mr. Daler Mehndi’s persona for the purpose of capitalising upon his name without his permission and hence directed the Defendants from restrain from selling the dolls bearing Mr. Mehndi’s persona and likeness.
- In another case, Mr. Anil Kapoor, a renowned film actor had approached the Delhi High Court in the matter of Anil Kapoor vs Simply Life India & Ors [MANU/DEOR/248558/2023] seeking to protect his own name, image, likeness, persona, voice and various other attributes of his personality against misuse and tarnishing over the internet. It was the Plaintiff’s case that the Defendants were utilising the various features of the Plaintiff’s persona in a malicious manner. The High Court took note of a celebrity’s right of endorsement being a major source of the livelihood of the celebrity which could not be destroyed by permitting unlawful sale and use of his persona. The Court while injuncting the Defendants from using any aspect of Plaintiff’s persona, observed that the Plaintiff’s name, likeness, image, persona etc needed to be protected, not only for their own sake but also for the sake of their family’s public image.
- Further, recently, another famous actor, Jackie Shroff approached the Delhi High Court in the matter of Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff Alia Jackie Shroff vs The Peppy Store & Ors [CS(COMM) 389/2024] seeking protection and safeguarding of his image, likeness, voice. persona and various other distinctive attributes of his personality against unauthorised misuse online. The High Court while inter alia relying on Daler Mehndi’s case held that the Defendant’s utilisation of the Plaintiff’s name, image, voice, etc, without the permission of the Plaintiff, would categorise as an infringement of their personality and publicity rights and thereafter proceeded to injunct some of the Defendant’s from infringing upon the personality rights of the Plaintiff.
What To Do in Case Personality Rights Are Violated
As mentioned above, the Courts in India have now begun to recognise and protect the personality rights of individuals, and more particularly celebrities. In case of violation of personality rights i.e. use of an individual’s personality attributes without their permission, the said individual would have a right to take legal recourse against such violation.
- A legal notice to the effect which calls upon the offender to forthwith stop the misuse and infringement of the personality rights ought to be issued at the first instance.
- In case, the offender does not comply with the requisitions in the legal notice, the said individual has the right to approach the civil courts by invoking the various provisions of intellectual property laws coupled with the Constitution of India and seek an injunction against the offender from infringing upon the personality rights of the said person as well the privacy of the individual.
- Further, damages/compensation can also be sought from the offender for the wrongful gains that may have accrued to the offender by the illegitimate use of the individual’s personality traits.
Conclusion
As has been observed above, personality rights developed as a facet of the right to privacy and are continuously evolving. The Courts have also begun to recognise the protection of the personality rights of an individual inter alia on the ground that the same are a major source of livelihood of such individual and the same cannot be infringed to the detriment of such person and for the commercial exploitation without the consent of the individual. The right of publicity has in fact been recognised to be located with the individual’s right and autonomy to permit or not to permit the commercial exploitation of his likeness or some attributes of his personality.
Further, the defence of free speech which is generally taken by the Defendants in an action for infringing the personality rights of an individual, would not include the right to commercially exploit the personality rights of the individual without seeking their due permission. Such acts would even violate the right to privacy of the individual.
We can assist you with concerns related to personality rights in India and to help proceed considering the legal nuances. You can submit a query below and get in touch with us.
Thank you for getting in touch! 
