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The Bombay High Court has protected the personality rights of veteran singer Asha Bhosle and Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty through two interim orders passed in the last two weeks, and restrained social media platforms and web portals from utilising, exploiting, or violating such rights.
Last year, the Bombay HC had restrained certain artificial intelligence (AI) platforms from utilising personality traits of the singer Arijit Singh, including his name, voice, signatures and images.
The personality rights of the celebrities include their name, voice, signature, image or any other feature that marks their personality, and which is easily identified by the public at large. Such features or attributes can include a certain phrase used by them, mannerisms, a pose, among other things.
Over time, courts have opined that only the owner or creators of such features can use them for commercial gains, and others cannot do so without the person’s consent or authorisation.
While personality rights and their protection is not expressly mentioned in the statutes in India, the courts have referred to them under the rights to privacy and property. Moreover, the concepts of passing off and deception in intellectual property rights have been referred to by courts while protecting personality rights of celebrities through injunctions.
Celebrities have increasingly approached High Courts asserting personality rights and their right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution being affected by AI-generated content, including deep fakes. and sought protection of their moral rights under the Copyright Act, 1957.
Bhosle’s plea stated that the “eminent and well-known personality in the field of music has played an integral part in the Indian music and entertainment industry for over seven decades” and enjoys “immense respect, goodwill nationally and globally due to her staggering repertoire of songs from different genres.”
She sought protection of her “name, voice, signatures, images” from any commercial or personal use without her consent, saying that her moral rights under the Copyright Act, 1957 were being violated by AI platforms and others including John Doe (all unknown persons/entities).
Shetty alleged that certain AI-generated images and counterfeit merchandise misappropriated his image and likeness. He also said fake brand endorsements and advertisements using his AI-generated images were circulated on social media, and that deep fake pictures, including those showing him with his grandchild were creating “irreparable injury to his immense goodwill” and affecting existing contracts.
Singh’s 2024 plea argued that AI platforms in question convert any text, speech, voice recording or audio file to Singh’s AI voice version,” using sophisticated algorithms to create audio and visual content replicating his features and “mimic/reproduce his personality traits.”
In July 2024, Justice Riyaz I Chagla, granting interim relief to Singh through ex-parte order, observed that the manner in which “celebrities are vulnerable to being targeted by unauthorised generative AI content shocked [the court’s] conscience.” The judge noted such platforms were “capitalising into popularity and reputation” of celebrities, causing potential abuse of their personality rights.
The court agreed with Singh’s contention that “even though freedom of speech and expression allows for critique and commentary, it does not grant the license to exploit a celebrity’s persona for commercial gain.”
Justice Arif S Doctor, granting interim relief to Bhosle, said that “making AI tools available to enable the conversion of any voice into that of a celebrity without his/her permission would constitute a violation of the celebrity’s personality rights.”
Such tools, he said, “facilitate the unauthorised appropriation and manipulation of a celebrity’s voice, which is a key component of their personal identity and public persona.” The court noted that “technological exploitation not only infringes upon the individual’s right to control and protect their own likeness and voice but also undermines their ability to prevent commercial and deceptive uses of their identity.”
In an ad-interim order for Shetty, Justice Doctor raised concerns over AI-generated infringing content, observing that “unauthorised creation/uploading of deep fake images of the plaintiff on social media platforms constitutes a grave infringement not only of his personality rights but also of his right to live with dignity.” The judge added that such “unauthorised use of AI generated images of celebrities constitutes a blatant invasion of their privacy and their fundamental rights.”
Other High Courts too have time and again protected personality rights of the celebrities including Amitabh Bachhan’s baritone, the distinct “style” of Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff, the image of Aishwarya Rai Bachhan and Abhishek Bachhan, and Rajnikanth’s name, among others. The Bombay HC, in its recent orders have referred to these cases.
Granting interim relief in a plea by filmmaker and producer Karan Johar against infringing content by social media intermediaries, the Delhi HC had last month emphasised on setting up a mechanism to take action in such cases.
Last month, the Delhi HC had also restrained entities including websites and online marketplaces selling merchandise from infringing actor Aishwarya Rai-Bachhan’s personality, publicity and moral rights and said that the court cannot turn a blind eye to the unauthorised exploitation. The Delhi HC also granted similar relief to Abhishek Bachhan.
Last year, Delhi HC had also granted interim relief to actor Jackie Shroff by protecting his personality rights and had also referred to his trademark registered for the term ‘Bhidu’.
In May last year, granting similar relief to Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, Delhi HC had restrained online platforms from misusing his personality rights and persona, which included the manner of using the catchphrase or slang that he popularised in movies “jhakkas”.
In November, 2022, the Delhi HC had passed an order restraining several persons from violating veteran actor Amitabh Bachhan’s publicity rights as a renowned celebrity and said they cannot use his name, voice and image without his permission to promote their own goods and services.
They were also restrained from using variations of his name “Big B” and his unique style of saying “Computer ji and lock kiya jaye” in the TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
The Madras High Court in 2015, while hearing a plea by legendary actor Rajnikanth against producers of the movie “Main hoon Rajnikanth” had noted that “personality right vests on those persons, who have attained the status of celebrity”.
