JACKIE SHROFF TAKES LEGAL ACTION TO PROTECT PERSONALITY RIGHTS: A DEEP DIVE INTO RELEVANT PROVISIONS AND CASES

ABSTRACT

Personality rights, a right mainly used by famous celebrities to protect their name, signature, voice, personality traits etc… from being misused for commercial purposes by anyone.  In this article we have discussed the recent case of veteran actor Mr. Jackie Shroff and the other previous cases related to personality rights in India. And we have  discussed the law that deals with the cases related to personality rights, the things that are covered  under personality rights and other such things. We have also discussed the constitutional provisions relating to it.

INTRODUCTION

Jackie Shroff, a well-known veteran celebrity of India, also known as “Apna Bhidu” or “Jaggu Dada,” has recently moved to the Delhi High Court to seek protection of his name, publicity, and personality rights. He seeks to protect his name including his nicknames, his voice, and the word “Bhidu.” He filed the petition because he believes that content creators are misusing his name, nicknames, voice, and mannerism to create memes, and this is done without his consent. On May 14, he initiated legal action against several people for unauthorized use of his name, image, voice, mannerism, and moniker “Bhidu.”

This case has highlighted the questions: what is the concept of personality rights of a person? What can be protected under such a right? What are the legal provisions related to it? And precious relevant cases. In this article, we are going to discuss all of these things.

PERSONALITY RIGHT

Although there is no specific definition of Personality rights, in general, it includes rights of famous personalities whose name, voice, mannerism, signature, or any other personality trait has some commercial value or “personality rights are those rights which are vested in persons who have attained the status of a celebrity”. Personality rights include two types of rights:

  • The Right to publicity: It means to protect their image, voice, personality traits from being misused for any commercial purpose. This right lasts until the death of a person and after his death, this right is seized by the court. This right is given under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
  • The Right to privacy: It means if someone is sharing the pictures or anything related to a celebrity without their consent it is an infringement of their right to privacy given by the Constitution of India. And also if the photos or videos are shared with anyone but taken without consent, it is still an infringement of the right to privacy. This right is given under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

LAWS THAT PROTECT PERSONALITY RIGHTS IN INDIA

The personality rights cases can be dealt with in the constitution of India 1950, The Trademark Act, 1999, and The Copyright Act, 1957.

Provisions under the Constitution of India:

  • Article 19 (1) (a): Grants citizens the right to freely express their thoughts, opinions, and ideas, subject to reasonable restrictions for the interests of sovereignty, security, public order, decency, or other specified concerns.
  • Article 21: Ensures the right to life and personal liberty. In the case of K.S Puttuswamy vs. Union of India (2017), the court recognized the right of privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21.

Provisions under the Trademark Act:

  • Section 2 (m): Defines “mark” broadly to include various elements such as names, signatures, and colors.
  • Section 14: Regulates the use of names and representations of living or recently deceased persons in trademarks, requiring consent for such usage.

Provisions under the Copyright Act:

  • Section 38: Establishes performers’ rights, which last for fifty years after the performance.
  • Section 57: Grants authors the right to claim authorship and prevent distortion or modification of their work that could damage their honor or reputation.
  • Section 17 (b): Determines the first owner of copyright for works created for valuable consideration, such as photographs or films.

INDIAN CASE LAWS RELATED TO PERSONALITY RIGHTS

Various Indian Famous personalities have filed cases to protect their personality rights. These were related to the protection of their name, signature, picture, voice, personality traits, dialogues, and mannerism. Personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Shivaji Rao Gaikwad aka Rajnikath, Anil Kapoor, Gautam Gambhir, and others have filed petitions in different courts of India.

  • M. ENTERTAINMENT VS BABY GIFT HOUSE PVT. LTD. (1996)

This is the first registered case of personality right in india

Defendants were engaged in the business of sellings dolls and other toys, those dolls are identical to cheap imitation of singer Mr. Daler Mehndi. Later the singer filed a suit seeking permanent injunction against the defendants restraining them from infringing his right of publicity.

  • TITAN INDUSTRIES LTD. V. M/s. RAMKUMAR JEWELLERS (2012)

In this case the court acknowledged a celebrity’s right to publicity. The court said that “ the right to publicity is a celebrity’s right to regulate where, when, and how their identity is exploited”.

Court safeguards the rights of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Mrs. Jaya Bachchan as their images were used for commercial purposes without their consent.

  • AMITABH BACHCHNA VS. RAJAT NEGI & OTHERS (2022)

In this particular case the court granted permanent injunction in favor of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan protected the misuse of his personality right against misuse of his name by the defendant for commercial purposes, without his consent.

  • SHIVAJI RAO GAIKWAD VS. VARSHA PRODUCTION (2015)

Plaintiff filed the present case against the defendant for using plaintiff’s name, image, caricature, style, dialogue and mannerism in the upcoming movie titled “Main Hoon Rajinikanth” in a manner that is infringing plaintiff’s personality rights.

  • ANIL KAPOOR VS. SIMPLY LIFE INDIA & ORS (2023)

In this case the honorable court granted injunction to plaintiff against defendant from “utilising his name, image, voice, likeliness or personality to make any merchandise, ringtones, or in any manner misuse the plaintiff’s name, voice and other elements by using technological tools such as artificial intelligence, face morphing, GIFs, either for monetary gains or for creating any videos for commercial purpose so as to result in violation of plaintiff’s rights.”

  • JAIKISHAN KAKUBHAI SARAF ALIAS JACKIE SHROFF VS. THE PEPPY STORE & OTHERS (2024)

The most recent case of personality right filed by plaintiff to protect his name, nicknames, mannerism and his dialogue “bhidu”. It was being misused by various persons to create memes and other content.

In the recent order passed on 15 may 2024 the court observed that the use of plaintiff’s name, picture, dialogue and mannerism by defendants has prima facie been violating his personality rights, so the court ordered an ad- interim injunction against defendants and blocked two e- commerce  sites abstaining them from sellings merchandise and poster featuring actors image, and photographs.

Also Hon’ble justice Sanjeev Narula directed the Department of Telecommunications and the ministry of electronics and communications to issue appropriate directions to the telecom service providers and internet service providers to block the infringing URLs and links provided to court.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the concept of personality rights has evolved over the time. Personality right also known as publicity right and include right to privacy in it, this right mainly used by famous personalities as we have seen in the cases mentioned above. Indian courts have played an important role in shaping the legal framework related to personality rights, the cases from D.M. entertainment to Jackie Shroff, the concept of personality has been evolved at a great pace.

Overall, the judiciary has contributed in creating a legal frame work which protect individual’s personality rights, safeguard their identity, privacy and personality traits against unauthorized use. As we have seen that personality rights are evolving in India, we can expect it will be further refined.

AUTHORED BY: Ms. Pragati Tomar, 4th Year Law Student from Prestige Institute of Management & Research, Gwalior.

REFERENCES

  1. https://blog.ipleaders.in/protection-of-personality-rights-in-india/
  2. The Constitution of India, 1950, Act No. 00 of 1950
  3. The copyright act, 1957, act no. 14 of 1957
  4. The trademark act, 1999, act no. 47 of 1999
  5. MANU/2043/2010
  6. CS(OS) No. 2662/201
  7. CS ( COMM) 819/2022
  8. Civil suit no. 598 of 2014
  9. CS (COMM) 652/2023
  10. https://updates.anandandanand.com/delhi-high-court-protects-personality-rights-of-jackie-shroff/
  11. https://updates.anandandanand.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Order.pdf