Celebrity rights apply to famous personalities such as actors, authors, musicians, sports personalities, fashion designers etc among who few may be even regarded by many as icons or people of high recognition and celebrity rights are the rights associated to an social identity of a well-known person whose goodwill is exploited by businesses in several ways to  raise their profits.

Celebrity rights may include the following:

1.    Image Rightsthat relate to public image of a well-known person which forms opinion regarding such person in minds of he people and determines his or her respect within society in the eyes of general public. This may be somewhat associated with the social reputation of such celebrity. This is important for celebrities because businesses and particularly advertising firms may exploit their identity and popularity and goodwill among masses to promote their products/services and upgrade their sales. In India, there is no specific statute that guards image rights of a celebrity.

 

2.    Privacy Rights:The right to privacy in respect of the celebrity may also include the right to be left in personal space and not always being surrounded by mass-media and general public openly without consent of such celebrity especially in respect of their moments with their family members and during such other sensitive times. Barging into the private space of such well-known figure without his/her consent may lead to privacy infringement, wherein such celebrity may be entitled to file for compensation and seek injunction against the person who violates the privacy rights of such well-known personality. Right to privacy has also been guaranteed to every citizen of India under article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 and therefore is a constitutional right. Few celebrities may want to keep their personal life or certain events of their personal life as a secret or low profile and away from the limelight. People of high prestige are may face stressful times due to reckless assertions, mostly made erroneously or at times based on the social and/or political opinions of such people which could affect their respective careers and /or make people feel their necessary involvement in cases even if they do not have anything to do with such cases. The follow-up and inspection of well-known figures/celebrities by media or general public should not reach to the level where it may cause harassment and/or embarrassment to such celebrities and their near ones and they must be let free to spend their personal time in peaceand ease.^[1]

 

3.    Right to Publicity: According to the International Trademark Association the Right to Publicity, is “a form of intellectual property right that protects against the misuse of a person’s name, likeness and perhaps other personal identification nickname, pseudonym, voice, signature, likeness, or photograph for commercial benefit.^[2]The right to use the commercial value of the celebrity is known as publicity rights but it is for this purpose a person needs to establish his/her fame in the form of merchandise and any activity that violates those rights may be considered unfair profit-making practice.

 

4.    Moral rights of a celebrity:Protection of moral rights is an important aspect because maltreat/abuse of an expression of the well-known personality may harm his/her artistic liberty, reputation, and integrity, and thus spoil a personality interest in a manner that may prove destructive to the artist\’s goodwill or are in conflict with the artist\’s creative interests or fictitious, artistic creativity/formations.^[3] 

Case laws pertaining to celebrity rights:

Ø Sourav Ganguly v. Tata Tea Ltd.^[4]:

It came to the knowledge of the Indian sports personality Sourav Ganguly that Tata Tea Ltd. was marketing their 1kg tea box by giving customers a chance to praise Sourav Ganguly with a postcard located inside each tea box to increase the selling of its tea in Indian markets where Sourav Ganguly was then a famous cricketer. The Court passed order in Sourav’s favor, stating his prestige and popularity as his own property and can’t be used without his approval. Though it is said that the matter was resolved by parties by amicable settlement.

 

ØIn Shivaji Rao Gaikwad v. Varsha Productions^[5]:

Superstar/actor Rajnikanth had filed a case on the production house to restrain the production house from expending his onscreen character tactics as perceived by general audience in their up coming movie \”Main Hoon Rajinikanth\” alleging violation of his image rights by such unauthorized and unapproved use which seemed a clear attempt by the respondent to cash in on the popularity of the actor. The Court in the absence of the procedure followed for obtaining such permission to use/exploit image from the concerned actor, held from the available materials of the film and in the light of The Copyright Act, 1957, The Trade Marks Act, 1999 etc. and Article 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950 that the name of the movie and caricature of actor Rajnikanth in the film would damage his reputation.

 

Regulation mechanism:

Celebrity rights is a matter of concern that has not received the required appreciation in India even though there are certain judgments and precedents which provide with confidence of evolving awareness regarding rights of celebrities in the coming years.

 

1)    The Press Council of India’s Norms of Journalistic Conduct^[6]has provided certain code of conduct and/or guidelines around or closer to the subject of guarding celebrity rights wherein it has provided regarding non-publishing of news which may be defamatory or libelous in nature also laying focus on evidence/source to conclude that information to be published is correct and truthful. Also it provides that right to privacy is a fundamental and basic right and is uninfringe able even though the privilege pertaining to privacy may vary in certain circumstances depending on the case. However, the all kinds of mass media even in general have the responsibility to ensure that knowledge regarding the celebrities and their actions is collected by trusted and reliable sources and is verified correctly and then published.

 

2)    India is a signatory to the TRIPS Resolution, 1994^[7], articles 9 to 14 of which deal with copyright and related protections and India includes all necessary points of the TRIPS Resolution in its copyright laws.

Conclusion:

It is important for lawmakers to sanction a distinct celebrity rights regulation that would safeguard against the exploitation of celebrity rights and give them protection and if such legislation is enacted it would also be beneficial for advertising firms to guard themselves by acquiring legally documented approvals from such luminaries before using their public image, name, etc. However, on account of lack of such regulations and authorizations, usually it is would be wise to include legal disclaimers to reduce accountability in the case if there are any clashes.

 

Written by: Vaidehi Harshad Samant

                    Advocate, Mumbai