Delhi HC protects Anil Kapoor’s personality rights: What they are, how have courts ruled

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context:

The Delhi High Court in September allowed Kapoor’s pleas for protection of his personality rights from misuse by third parties.

More in news:

Celebrities can move the Court and seek an injunction when an unauthorized third party uses their personality rights for commercial purposes.
Intellectual property rights specialist Pravin Anand distinguished unauthorized use from “fair use.”
A fair use would be for example depiction in news, teaching material or other non-commercial uses or even artistic uses like mimicry or satire which is a copy but not mere reproduction. However, if a third-party uses it to profit from it, it cannot be termed fair use.

What is a personality right?

The name, voice, signature, images or any other feature easily identified by the public are markers of a celebrity’s personality and are referred loosely as “personality rights.”
Any feature easily identified by the public as markers of a celebrity’s personality and are referred loosely as “personality rights.”
The idea is that only the owner or creator of these distinct features has the right to derive any commercial benefit from it.
These could include a pose, a mannerism or any aspect of their personality.
Rajinikanth’s name, Amitabh Bachchan’s baritone and now Anil Kapoor’s style ,are some of the personality rights that celebrities are trying to protect.
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.
Exclusivity is a big factor in attracting commercial dividends for celebrities.

How does the law protect the right?

Personality rights or their protection are not expressly mentioned in a statute in India but are traced to fall under the right to privacy and the right to property.
Delhi High Court and the Madras High Court have passed interim orders, the law is at a nascent stage in India.
In the case of Anil Kapoor, the Delhi High Court granted an ex-parte, omnibus injunction restraining 16 entities from using Kapoor’s name, likeness, image, using technological tools like Artificial Intelligence, face morphing and even GIFs for monetary gain or commercial purpose.

When can the Court grant an injunction?

In the Titan case, the HC in its order listed out the “basic elements comprising the liability for infringement of the right of publicity.”
First, the right has to be valid. This means that the Court must be satisfied that the “plaintiff owns an enforceable right in the identity or persona of a human being.”
Second, is that the celebrity has to be easily identifiable in the alleged misuse.
On how to prove that the celebrity is identifiable, the HC said that a simple “unaided identification” should be enough if the celebrity is well-known.