Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar
Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan and his wife and actress Aishwarya Rai moved the Delhi High Court with the personality rights, after which filmmaker Karan Johar also reached the court. These three big names of Bollywood are demanding the protection of personality rights. Although Abhishek-Aishwarya has been given security for personality rights by the court, while the court will pronounce its decision on Karan Johar’s case on 17 September.
On the petition of Karan Johar, Justice Manmeet of Delhi High Court P.S. Arora said that he would pass the order on September 17 on the petition of film maker Karan Johar, including problems of unauthorized sales, domain names, wrong identity, use of fake profiles and obscenity problems of his name and photo products. Johar has also appealed to the court to pass the order for some websites and platforms not to sell illegal goods, including their names and image mugs and T-shirts.
Karan Johar claimed in his trial that all the institutions are using their names, photos, personality without their consent to earn money. Senior advocate Rajasekhar Rao, appearing for Johar, says that he has the right to ensure that no one unauthorized his personality, face or voice.
What did Delhi High Court say in Aishwarya Rai case?
Abhishek Bachchan, Delhi High Court gave him interim protection in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan case, after which online platforms and institutions will not be able to misuse their names, photos and personality characteristics for commercial or personal benefits without their consent. The order was passed by Justice Tejas Karia on 9 September, which was made public on 11 September.
Aishwarya Rai had demanded the court to protect her personality rights from unauthorized exploitation including AI-birthted pornographic content. The court said, ‘In such cases of unauthorized exploitation of someone’s personality rights, the courts cannot blind eyes. They will protect the aggrieved parties to protect them from any damage caused by such exploitation. If prohibitory orders are not given in this case, then it will harm him and his family in relation to their right to live not only financially but also with respect.
Why do Star want personality rights in AI era?
At this time, digital content, deepfek technology and mim culture are overshadowed on the internet. Any person is posting an AI generated photo of anyone without permission. This illegal use has become common. A fake video of an artist or famous personality or AI-clone audio goes viral in a few hours, the reputation and dignity of the person belonging to this act is damaged and people are misled.
AI generated fake advertising customers and their fans can assure that a star has promoted a special product. However, in reality there is no relationship with that star. In such a situation, platforms that make profits can confuse people. Not only this, fake content can also be prepared about people associated with politics, so that their credibility can be discounted.
What are personality rights?
Personality rights are also called publicity rights. These reflect a person’s right to control the commercial use of his name, image, voice, signature and other things related to his personality. The special thing is that personality rights are very important for famous actor, athlete and other influential people because their name is popular among common people. Any person can spread fake information using their name, which requires these rights to avoid.
However, there is no dedicated law for personality rights in India yet. The courts have given the Trademark Act, 1999 (name, equality and voice as identifier) and information technology act, 2000 with Article 21 (right to life, honor and privacy) of the Constitution. Through these, security was given to Bollywood stars. Other legal safety measures for personality rights are also present in the Copyright Act, 1957. Many decisions have prevented companies, online platforms and individuals from using a celebrity name, voice or image without consent.