Personality rights, often called publicity rights, refer to the legal rights of individuals, particularly public figures, to control and profit from the commercial use of their identity and personal attributes. These attributes may include name, likeness (images, photographs, videos), voice, signature, catch-phrases, mannerisms, or other distinctive features. The core idea is that a person has a proprietary or at least legally protectable interest in how others use these aspects of their persona, especially for commercial gain.
These rights overlap with several areas of intellectual property law (IPR) (such as trademarks, copyright, rights of performers), constitutional rights (privacy, dignity), along with torts (passing off, defamation) and contractual law. Because these rights are not always codified in a single statute in many jurisdictions (including India), they are built up through judicial precedent, as well as use of existing statutes..
The Recent Cases: Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan & Karan Johar
In September 2025, a wave of litigation in the Delhi High Court has focused on protecting personality rights of several Bollywood personalities:
- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan successfully obtained interim orders restraining various websites, platforms from using their names, images, voices without their consent — especially in ways that suggest endorsements or product affiliations.
- Karan Johar has recently filed a petition seeking broader protections of his personality rights, highlighting misuse such as the unauthorised sale of merchandise featuring his name/image, fake profiles, domain‐name misuse, impersonation, and content of an obscene nature purportedly using his persona without permission.
In the Johar case, the Delhi High Court has signaled that it may grant interim relief/injunction to protect his personality and publicity rights.
