Personality Rights

Syllabus: GS2/Polity and Governance

Context

• The Delhi High Court has recently issued a series of orders protecting the personality rights of Bollywood celebrities from unauthorised commercial use.

What are Personality Rights?

• Personality rights refer to the right of a person to protect his/her personality under the right to privacy or property. 
  • These could include a pose, a mannerism or any aspect of their personality.
• These rights are important to celebrities as their names, photographs or even voices can easily be misused in various advertisements by different companies to boost their sales.
• Many celebrities even register some aspects as a trademark to use them commercially.
  • For example, Usain Bolt’s “bolting” or lightning pose is a registered trademark.

Reasons for providing these Rights

• The idea is that only the owner of these distinct features has the right to derive any commercial benefit from it.
• Exclusivity is a big factor in attracting commercial dividends for celebrities. 
• Personality rights are not expressly mentioned in a Laws in India but fall under the right to privacy.

Legality of Personality Rights

• Celebrities can move the Court and seek an injunction when an unauthorised third party uses their personality rights for commercial purposes.
• Personality rights or their protection are not expressly mentioned in a statute in India but are traced to fall under the right to privacy (Article 21). 
• Many concepts in intellectual property rights used in protection of trademarks such as passing off, deception can be applied while deciding whether a celebrity deserves to be protected through an injunction.

Conclusion

• India’s courts are increasingly recognising personality rights to protect individuals from digital misuse, including AI-generated content. 
• While protections are expanding, they must balance free speech, artistic expression, and privacy, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive legislation.

Source: TH