I saw a thought-provoking
advertisement few days ago; a poster of a debit card with a picture of Ranveer Singh
on the card and at the bottom of the poster it was written “limited edition
card”. This advertisement reminded me of “the use of a persona of a
celebrity as intellectual property”. These are certain specific rights
enjoyed by celebrities by exploiting their celebrity image. These rights
are called Image Rights or Personality rights.
Personality
Rights are a mixture of privacy and publicity rights- they give celebrities the
sole right to commercially exploit their personality. In everyday life, we
come across many advertisements wherein celebrities are seen endorsing
different products and services.
For eg;
Amitab Bachhan for Maggi, Dabur, Parker; Ranveer Singh for Addidas, Kotak
Mahindra, ITC’s Bingo Mad angles, Vivo smartphone; M.S Dhoni for Boost, Ashok
Leyland, etc.
Marketers
hire celebrities to endorse their products in the hope that the positive images
of the celebrity endorser will also be passed on to the products or the brand
image associated with the celebrity. Celebrities have mass communication
skills which can attract people's attention and is helpful in reaching a wider
audience to raise their awareness of their product or service.
As long
as there is consent, all is well; if no consent or permission of the concerned
celebrity is obtained you may end up in a legal puddle.
Here are
few Indian and international cases wherein the celebrities sought the help of
the courts against the unauthorized or inappropriate use of their Intellectual
Property in their persona.
- Rajat Sharma v/s Zee Media
- Justice K. S. Puttaswamy
(Retd.) v. Union of India
- Rajagopal v. State of Tamil
Nadu (1994)
- P.H.Manojpandian vs Dalia
Sen Oberoi
- Phoolan Devi vs Shekhar
Kapoor And Ors.
- Akshaya Creations & Anr.
v. Muthulakshmi
- Titan Industries Ltd. vs M/S
Ramkumar Jewellelrs
- Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (aka
Rajinikanth) v. Varsha Productions
- D.M. Entertainment v Baby
Gift House
- Sonu Nigam v. Mika Singh and
Ors
- Sourav Ganguly vs Tata Tea
- ICC Development
(International) Limited v Arvee Enterprises
- Star India Private Limited v
Leo Burnett India (Pvt) Ltd.
- Chorian Rights Limited v MS Ishaan
Apparel & others
- Michael Doughlas and
Catherine Zeta Jones v Hello Limited
- Henderson v Radio Corp Pty.
Ltd
- Paul Hogan v Koala Dundee
Pty Ltd
- Hogan v Pacific Dunlop
- Carson v. Here’s Johnny
Portable Toilets, Inc.
- Uhlig LLC v. Shirley
- House v. Sports Films &
Talents
- Arun Jaitley v. Network
Solutions
- Gignilliat v. Gignilliat,
Savitz & Bettis L.P)
- Gautam Gambhir V. D.A.P
& Co.
- Elvis Presley Enterprises v
Sid Shaw Elvisly Yours
- Fenty v. Topshop
- Re Gary Honey v Australian
Airlines Limited and House of Tabor Inc
- Aubry v Éditions Vice-Versa
Inc,
- Krouse v. Chrysler Canada
Ltd.,
- Athans v. Canadian Adventure
Camps
- Grütter v Lombard.
- Gould Estate v. Stoddart
Publishing Co. Ltd.
- Polaroid Corp. v. Polarad
Elects.
- Lugosi v. Universal
Pictures
- Phillips v. Scalf
- ETW Corp. v. Jireh
Publishing,
- Johnny and Edgar Winter v.
DC Comics
- Nussenzweig v. DiCorcia,
- James "Jim" Brown
v. Electronic Arts, Inc.,
- Miss Kajal Agarwal Vs. The
Managing Director, M/s V.V.D. & Sons Pvt. Ltd.
