Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan has moved to the Bombay High Court seeking protection of his personality rights. As reported by India Today, the actor has filed an intellectual property (IP) suit against
several Indian and international e-commerce and social media platforms, claiming they have been using his identity for commercial use.
The plea alleges that the actor’s name, image and likeness are being used without consent across merchandise, advertisements and various digital platforms, infringing upon his publicity and privacy rights. Kartik has requested a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from commercially exploiting his photos, videos, voice or any other personal attributes, including through the use of AI-generated content and deepfakes.
What Are Personality Rights?
Personality rights refer to an individual’s legal entitlement to control the commercial and public use of their identity. They safeguard attributes that are uniquely linked to a person, such as their name, image, likeness, voice, signature, or even trademark catchphrases, from being exploited without consent.
These rights are often broken into two branches – the Right of publicity and the Right to privacy. The former protects against unauthorised commercial exploitation, such as using a celebrity’s face in advertisements. On the other hand, the right to privacy guards against intrusion into personal dignity, covering misuse through deepfakes, morphed images, fabricated endorsements, or intimate doctored content.
Other Celebs Also Seek Protection Of Personality Rights
In recent times, several celebrities, including Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, Rishab Shetty and Akkineni Nagarjuna, also moved court to seek protection of their personality rights.
Recently, the Bombay High Court issued an order protecting the unauthorised use of veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle’s personality rights. The court restrained various entities from misusing the personal attributes of the singer, like her name and images – even with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It also stated that making AI tools available to replicate a celebrity’s voice without consent is a violation of their identity rights.
