Introduction
Intellectual property rights are the rights granted to people over the creations of their minds. As a general rule, they grant the author an exclusive right to use his creation for a specified period of time. Intellectual property describes a wide variety of property created by musicians, authors, artists, and inventors. Intellectual property law generally encompasses COPYRIGHT, PATENT, and trademark laws. Its main objective is to promote the development of art, science and information by granting all artists, including inventors of the arts and sciences, certain property rights. These rights allow artists to protect themselves against damage or the unauthorized use and abuse of their creations. For copyrighted material, the exclusive right applies 70 years after the death of the author. The duration of the right may vary for patents, but in most cases, it is 20 years. Trademark rights are exclusive for ten years and can be continuously renewed for an additional period of ten years.
Unlike all tangible assets that can be locked, fenced off, or nailed down, intangible assets are always publicly available and can be easily copied or emulated by anyone. In some cases, however, self-protection is possible by mixing material assets with intellectual property. When a person has a unique idea or creation, there will always be people who will try to replicate that idea or creation to earn money. Therefore, it is vitally important to guarantee intellectual property rights before third parties illegally violate them. Intellectual property protection can be adopted for all types and sizes of companies. Then, after analyzing business needs and circumstances, a person can decide what intellectual property protection (trademark, copyright or patent application) can be used to cover different areas of intellectual property. A celebrity is a person who is famous and widely known and gets a lot of public attention or attention from other people. This is one of the current issues in the media that intellectual property law seeks to protect.
Although the concept of celebrity rights is protected by intellectual property law, it is an important area in the media industry because:
a) The usual interface between celebrities and the media.
b) The media often do not provide the means through which the various rights of celebrities are exploited.
Many seek fame as an honor. In a democracy, it is usually a reward for success. Athletes and artists earn it with skill. The businessman and television personality deserve to be resourceful. Politicians earn it through votes. Anyone can fight for it. It is the public that gives fame. The public is dictated by the media. But in the end, celebrity comes through the choice of consumers and voters by the public. There is also a class of celebrities who are more or less involuntary. Princes and princesses acquire it by birth or marriage. Others acquire not only celebrity status, but also some rights through their casual participation in newsworthy events. These various celebrity rights are frequently attacked by the media. To protect them, there is intellectual property law, which helps safeguard the rights they have acquired.
Types of celebrity rights in IPR
Celebrity rights are a set of rights, which includes publishing rights, reproduction rights, distribution rights, rental and lending rights, personal rights, personal rights, and so on. In general, these rights can be divided into three main categories, namely personal / moral rights, advertising / marketing rights, and data protection rights. These rights are a form of intangible property that only celebrities can enjoy. Because these are intangible property rights and the power of fame is given to a celebrity, these rights are often susceptible to abuse and misappropriation.
- Personality rights: Personality is the means by which one person is recognized by another. By creating his personality, man creates an image of himself and the expected behavior in society. Each individual contributes to society by himself, depending on different talents. The individual’s contribution to society is his right, and such individual rights are protected.
- Publicity/Merchandising rights: The right to harness the value of a celebrity’s fame is known as publicity right. Celebrity fame is used to promote the sale of a product or action. So, if someone uses a celebrity’s fame to promote their products, it will be characterized as unfair trading practices, misappropriation of the celebrity’s intellectual property, an act of passing off, etc.
- Privacy rights: People are interested in all the personal aspects of a celebrity’s life. Celebrities, in turn, try to control their personal data and protect it from disclosure without consent. These are nothing but privacy rights.
Use of IPR to protect them
Trademark law: While the nature of celebrity rights issues may, prima facie, fall within the purview of trademark law, it is not as the law actually envisages it. The authorities that refer to the subject are of the opinion that such rights are not covered by trademark or copyright law, or may even be seen as a different type of personality right, although they may be related to all three. To what extent is this? It can be considered in this digital age that remains controversial. In general, a registered trademark is defined as a sign that is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of a company from those of other companies.19 From this point of view, consideration of the rights of celebrities will in fact cost the need to protect other rights globally. Same time. It should be noted that our laws protect the misuse of a personal name in connection with an unregistered product.20 Similarly, there is a problem with domain names21 and transfer22 in relation to celebrities, but only to a limited extent in certain cases. . aspects of a large package, if it is included under the brand concept. Furthermore, the question of whether a celebrity’s personality can be considered under trademark law remains unresolved.23 According to the author, the parties use celebrity endorsement to differentiate their product from that of others. We have never seen the same celebrity endorse the same type of product from two different parties. However, given the development of trademark law in our country, it is better to put this aspect together with other components in a separate law.
Copyright law: Moral rights protection is an important aspect of our copyright law, which is based on the personality of an author/performer. In their discussion of private property, Kant and Hegel argue that it is not necessary for such property to be a part of labour alone, as natural law and instrumentalist theory suggest, but can be created by combining ‘individuals will’ with some external objects. In many jurisdictions, this viewpoint has resulted in the consideration of rights solely based on ‘personality.’ It is justified as “mistreatment of an expression of the artist’s personality, affecting his artistic identity, personality, and honour, and thus impairing a legally protected personality interest” or “public presentation of the artist’s work” in a manner or context that is harmful to the artist’s reputation or contrary to the artist’s intellectual interests, personal style, or literary, artistic omissions.” These words demonstrate the importance of protecting a celebrity’s ‘personality.’ Nonetheless, it is a matter that our country’s jurisprudence must seriously consider.
Even though Indian jurisprudence has not evolved to such broad considerations, there are some instances that provide hope for the development of celebrity rights in our country in the future.
Need and necessity for protecting the celebrity rights
The identity of a celebrity is extremely valuable, and it can be assigned and licenced for commercial purposes. As a result, the celebrity has an interest that should be protected from unauthorised commercial exploitation of his or her identity. Celebrities have an exclusive legal right to control and profit from the commercial use of their name and personality throughout their lives. Celebrity endorsement is a common market practise that earns celebrities a lot of money. Furthermore, the right to publicity can be passed down through generations. The descendants of a celebrity can benefit from the celebrity’s fame during his or her lifetime.
A celebrity’s personality is the result of a lot of hard work and conscious care. A personality is imbued with a plethora of emotional and moral values. These personality rights are frequently associated with products or activities, sometimes without consent. In such cases, celebrities’ personal rights must be protected.
People take advantage of the fact that celebrities are public figures who attract an audience. The public’s curiosity can lead to cases where “paparazzi” make details of celebrities’ private lives public, necessitating the protection of celebrities’ privacy rights.
To protect these celebrity rights, appropriate legal regimes such as trademark and copyright laws, passing off actions, and so on are in place.
Case laws in Indian jurisprudence
Even though Indian jurisprudence has not progressed to the point of providing celebrity rights as a statutory right, certain court observations indicate the possibility of their development in the future.
When considering publicity rights in Titan Industries Ltd. v. M/S Ramkumar Jewellers, the court provided two factors that must be considered: “Validity: The plaintiff has an enforceable right in a human being’s identity or persona, and Identifiability: The Celebrity must be identifiable from the defendant’s unauthorised use. Infringement of a celebrity’s right to publicity requires no proof of falsity, confusion, or deception, especially if the celebrity is identifiable. The right to public opinion goes beyond the traditional boundaries of false advertising laws.” As a result, the court granted an interim injunction in favour of the plaintiff while specifically recognising personal rights.
In Sonu Nigam v. Amrik Singh (alias Mika Singh), the parties to the case were scheduled to appear at the Mirchi Awards 2013, and their images were used on the event’s official posters with their permission. Mika Singh used hoardings and posters that were different from the official hoardings and posters of the event to promote himself, carrying large pictures of himself as well as smaller pictures of the other artists, including Sonu Nigam, without their consent or permission. It was argued that the aforementioned hoardings and posters gave the public an unjustified and incorrect impression of Mika Singh’s prominence in comparison to the other artists. The Bombay High Court barred the defendants from displaying the Plaintiff’s photographs without his permission and ordered the defendant to pay Rs. 10 lakhs in damages to specified charities, as agreed by the parties.
In Shivaji Rao Gaikwad v. Varsha Productions, superstar Rajnikanth filed a suit seeking an injunction to prevent the respondent from using the applicant’s name/caricature/style of dialogue delivery, etc. in its forthcoming film “Main Hoon Rajinikanth” in any way whatsoever, alleging infringement of his personality rights. Rajnikanth also expressed concern that the film contained immoral scenes and that the respondent was exploiting his celebrity. The court stated that it is unarguable that intellectual property rights are a recognised valuable right under modern laws followed by all civilised countries. The Copyright Act, Trade Marks Act, and other relevant statutes adequately protect the rights. According to Article 21 of the Constitution, everyone is entitled not only to his or her life and personal liberty, which cannot be taken away except through the procedure established by law, but also to live a dignified life in a society, and thus no one can cause harm to another person’s fame or reputation against the law. Based on the film’s available materials, the Court determined that the title and caricature of Rajnikanth in the film would harm his reputation.
Conclusion
Celebrity rights are an important aspect of an artist or personality, and they fall under the purview of IPR. Taking into account the influence of celebrities in the lives of ordinary people and the development of jurisprudence in our country. The author believes that it is past time for lawmakers to pass legislation addressing celebrity rights, which will introduce, illustrate, and protect celebrities’ rights while also providing them with privacy. Celebrities, like everyone else, have a right to privacy, a right to publicity, and personality rights that should be protected; otherwise, their creations, name, and likeness will be taken away. Celebrity rights are a special type of right that can be protected in a variety of ways under trademark, copyright, passing off, and anti-cyber-squatting laws. Countries have certainly begun to protect these rights not only through statutory laws, but also through court decisions in cases where the exact legislation does not fit. The area of celebrity rights is gradually becoming clearer.
