{"id":44579,"date":"2025-06-02T20:47:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T15:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=44579"},"modified":"2025-06-02T20:48:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T15:18:04","slug":"personality-publicity-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-06-2025\/personality-publicity-rights","title":{"rendered":"Safeguarding Personality and Publicity Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Government Policies &amp; Interventions; Intellectual Property Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the Delhi High Court has issued a ruling safeguarding the personality and publicity rights of the founder of Isha Foundation.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It highlights the growing concerns over AI-generated deepfakes and unauthorized use of public figures&#8217; identities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the Personality and Publicity Rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Personality rights refer to <strong>an individual&#8217;s ability<\/strong> to control the commercial use of their identity. These rights are often divided into <strong>two categories:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Right to Privacy:<\/strong> Recognised under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reinforced in the landmark <strong>Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) judgment<\/strong>, which elevated privacy to the status of a fundamental right.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Right to Publicity:<\/strong> Prevents unauthorized commercial use of a person&#8217;s identity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Elements of Personality Rights<\/strong> are <em>name, image, likeness, voice, and signature<\/em> etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns in Personality Rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lack of Comprehensive Legal Framework:<\/strong> India does not have a dedicated law governing personality rights, relying instead on copyright, trademark, and privacy laws.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The absence of clear statutory protections makes enforcement difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AI-Generated Deepfakes &amp; Digital Manipulation:<\/strong> The rise of AI has led to the creation of deepfake videos and voice clones, allowing unauthorized use of a person&#8217;s identity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Commercial Exploitation Without Consent:<\/strong> Celebrities and influencers often find their likeness used in advertisements without permission.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The right to publicity is meant to prevent such misuse, but enforcement is inconsistent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Challenges in Enforcement:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jurisdictional Issues:<\/strong> Online violations often involve international platforms, making legal action complex.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Balancing Free Speech &amp; Protection:<\/strong> Courts must weigh freedom of expression against personality rights, especially in satire and parody cases.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rogue Websites &amp; Social Media Violations:<\/strong> Websites that misuse personality rights can reappear under different names, making enforcement difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Legal &amp; Constitutional Provisions<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Copyright Act, 1957:<\/strong> It grants performers rights over their work, ensuring that their image and voice are not used without permission.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trade Marks Act, 1999:<\/strong> It allows individuals to trademark their name or likeness, preventing unauthorized commercial use.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tort of Passing Off:<\/strong> It prevents misleading commercial use of a person&#8217;s identity, ensuring that their reputation is not exploited.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Advisories, guidelines, and IT rules:<\/strong> Though India lacks specific legislation for Artificial Intelligence (AI) , IT rules govern the advancement of AI, Generative AI, and Large Language Models (LLMs).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Judicial Precedents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jackie Shroff Case (2024): <\/strong>Delhi HC restrained unauthorised use of his persona by AI chatbots and e-commerce platforms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Krishna Kishore Singh v. Sarla A. Saraogi (2021):<\/strong> SC held that publicity rights are distinct from privacy rights and can outlive the individual.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Arun Jaitley v. Network Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (2011): <\/strong>Delhi HC acknowledged the commercial significance of one\u2019s name, especially in the digital space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Global Perspective<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)<\/strong> recognizes personality rights as an essential part of intellectual property law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many countries, including the <strong>United States and European nations<\/strong>, have specific statutes governing publicity rights, ensuring individuals can control how their identity is used commercially.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act of 2024 (ELVIS Act)<\/strong> was passed in the<strong> State of Tennessee, USA<\/strong> to protect musicians from unauthorised use of their voice, i.e. \u2018soundalikes\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/cities\/Delhi\/delhi-hc-passes-order-protecting-personality-rights-of-sadhguru-jaggi-vasudev\/article69645128.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Recently, the Delhi High Court has issued a ruling safeguarding the personality and publicity rights of the founder of Isha Foundation.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Judicial Precedents<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Jackie Shroff Case (2024): Delhi HC restrained unauthorised use of his persona by AI chatbots and e-commerce platforms.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Krishna Kishore Singh v. Sarla A. Saraogi (2021): SC held that publicity rights are distinct from privacy rights and can outlive the individual.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Arun Jaitley v. Network Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (2011): Delhi HC acknowledged the commercial significance of one\u2019s name, especially in the digital space.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-06-2025\/personality-publicity-rights\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44608,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44579\/revisions\/44608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}