Celebrity Rights: An Examination Of The Amitabh Bachchan Case

• Published date: 08 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Privacy, Privacy Protection, Trademark
• Law Firm: Khurana and Khurana
• Author: Anshuman Jamkiar

Introduction - A celebrity is a famous person who is known by the masses. Movie & Television personalities, Sportspersons, Musicians, political figures, and anybody else who is widely known fall under the purview of the term "celebrity". The Delhi High Court in the case of Titan Industries vs. Rajkumar Jewellers¹ stated that "...a celebrity is defined as a famous or a well-known person. A "celebrity" is merely a person who 'many' people talk about or know about."

Celebrity laws are not statutory but are protected under copyright and trademark laws. A plethora of rights is associated with them as individuals and famous personalities. Right to privacy, right to reproduce and distribute, character rights, and other such rights are available to them. This article discusses the infringement of those rights.

Big-name brands and companies also sometimes infringe trademark laws to market their products or services to people by using celebrity names and the trademarks associated with them. For example, in the case of SourabGanguly vs. Tata tea Ltd.², The plaintiff, a famous cricket star, was aggrieved by the use of his personality in postcards that the defendant, a tea company, was selling along with packets of tea. It was held by the hon'ble court that Sourav Ganguly's fame and personality were his intellectual property and cannot be used without his prior consent by anyone.

In the case of Sonu Nigam vs. Amrik Sigh (Mika Singh)³, the defendant was asked to pay Rs. 10 lac to the plaintiff. Both parties are very popular playback singers for movies. They both were attending a function where they were photographed with prior consent by them. Then later on the defendant used the photographs on posters for promotion. The posters, however, contained an enlarged picture of him and smaller pictures of Sonu Nigam and some other artists. The plaintiff argued that the posters depict a comparison of fame and popularity between Mika Singh and others in the posters including the plaintiff. The court agreed to the plaintiff's contention and along with the damages, Mika Singh was restrained from further using those posters.

Celebrities have all distinct and recognizable personalities, looks, or other such traits which are associated with them. To protect the exploitation of that, celebrities have personality rights which are also sometimes called celebrity rights. These rights are mainly concerned with well-known personalities. Any kind of exploitation of the intellectual...