Personality rights—comprising the right to privacy and the right of publicity—refer to an individual’s fundamental legal right to control, license, and commercially exploit their unique persona, including their name, image, likeness, voice, signature, and overall identity. In the realm of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), personality rights function similarly to traditional IP assets like trademarks and copyrights; a person's celebrity or distinct identity holds immense commercial value, making it vulnerable to unauthorized commercial endorsements, counterfeit merchandise, and misleading advertising. While historically rooted in common law torts and constitutional privacy guarantees, modern IP frameworks treat personality rights as valuable intangible assets, protecting individuals from having their personal brand equity unfairly misappropriated by third parties for commercial gain.
Although many jurisdictions, including India, do not possess a single standalone statute dedicated exclusively to personality rights, these rights are enforced through key statutory provisions in existing IP legislation. Under the Copyright Act, 1957, Section 38 and Section 38A grant "Performer's Rights," giving artists, actors, and musicians exclusive control over the commercial utilization of their live performances and likenesses, while Section 38B safeguards their moral rights against unauthorized distortion or misuse. Complementing this, the Trade Marks Act, 1999 safeguards personal identity under Section 14, which restricts the registration of any trademark that falsely implies a connection with a living individual (or a person who died within the preceding 20 years) without written consent. Furthermore, unauthorized exploitation of a personality can be restrained under Section 27(2) of the Trade Marks Act through the common law remedy of passing off, ensuring robust statutory protection against the deceptive use of an individual's personal identity.