In an era where digital technology allows for unparalleled imitation and manipulation, safeguarding personality rights has become increasingly crucial.
The Indian courts, in various landmark judgements have highlighted the importance of protecting the personality rights of the celebrities. Personality rights refer to a person's ability to safeguard his or her identity in the context of a property or privacy right. It protects celebrities from unwanted public exposure and the unauthorized use of their personal attributes such as name, voice, likeness, images, mannerism etc.
Recently, the Bombay High Court in Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP ruled in favour of the famous singer, Arijit Singh affirming that the singer has the rights over his name, voice, images, likeliness and other personality traits. In this case, the Plaintiff, Arijit Singh, an eminent vocalist, sought judicial relief to safeguard his name and various personal attributes, including his voice, vocal style, technique, singing mannerisms, as well as his image, photographs, caricatures, likeness, and signatures including the infringement of his moral rights pursuant to Section 38B of the Copyright Act, 1957 . The lawsuit was filed against a range of defendants, including AI platforms, owners of restaurants and pubs, organizers of virtual reality events, and merchandisers. The defendants were using AI-generated content that mimicked his voice, misleading representations of his involvement in various events, and the unauthorized sale of merchandise featuring his name and image.
Flight To Stardom: From Fame Gurukul To National Award
The Plaintiff started his journey with a music reality show, "Fame Gurukul," and is currently one of the kost popular and highest paid playback singer in India and globally. He is known famous songs such as Tum Hi Ho from Aashiqui 2, Channa Mereya from Ae Dil Hai Mushquil, Raabta from Agent Vinod, Kesariya from Brahmastra etc.
Infringing Elements: Highlights of the Contentions in Courtroom
The plaintiff approached the court to protect his personality rights as the defendants were unauthorizedly using the attributes of the Plaintiff to carry out the following activities:
- Use of AI tools to synthesize sound recordings of the Plaintiff's voice: Defendants No. 1 to 8 were AI platforms which were using algorithms to create audio-visual content by using Plaintiff's personality traits, such as voice, mannerisms, photographs, etc., to generate commercial gains. Real Voice Cloning (RVCs) was being used to convert any audio file or speech into the Plaintiff's voice. They were also operating a website called www.jammbale.com, which allowed the creation of songs with unauthorized use of Plaintiff's voice using AI models.
- Deceptive assertions of having association with the Plaintiff: Defendant no. 9 was a restaurant/pub which was alleged to have used the name and image of the Plaintiff to falsely assert Plaintiff's presence in a music event to derive commercial gain. Defendant No. 37 invited its users to sign up for a music event taking place in a virtual reality city hosted the website www.maicity.io.
- Proceeding sales of the merchandise bearing the Plaintiff's name, images, caricatures, likeliness, etc.: Defendants no. 11 to 23 were accused of unauthorizedly using Plaintiff's goodwill and other personality rights by selling the merchandise bearing the Plaintiff's names, images, caricatures, likeliness, etc., on the platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Desertcart, Kreateworld, TheBong, Prints4u, Swagshirts99, Redbubble, etc. to derive commercial gain.
- Platforms to create, search, store, and share graphic interchange format files (GIFs) of the Plaintiff: Defendants No. 24 and 25 were accused of allowing the general public to create, store, search, and share GIFs featuring the attributes of the Plaintiff, thereby commercially exploiting Plaintiff's personality rights.
- Creating domain names that are infringing in nature: Unknown entities registered the domain names https://arijitsingh.com/ and arijitsingh, without the consent of the Plaintiff, infringing the personality rights of the Plaintiff. It is stated that upon accessing the website hosted on arijitsingh.com, the webpage redirects to https://goid.com/app/home which appears to be a third-party website. Further, Defendant No. 32 is the owner / operator of the cloud data storage platform engaged in the business of providing cloud storage and video streaming facilities to the users to store and distribute the content under dispute.
Judgment
Ex-parte ad-interim order was issued by High Cout of Bombay restricting the usage of Arijit Singh's personal characteristics by multiple third parties. The third-party entities were prohibited to use his name, voice, vocal style and techniques, mannerisms, photos, images, signature, character, or any other component of his personality for any kind or purpose, whether personal or professional, without his express consent. Defendants were ordered to suspend website URLs like arijitsingh.com with a mandate that the same should not be transferred to third parties and were ordered to remove the unauthorized content from all digital platforms in all modes, media and formats.
Conclusion
The court relied on some landmark judgments such as Karan Johar v. Indian Pride Advisory Pvt. Ltd. and Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India and held that the celebrities have the right to safeguard their personal attributes from unauthorized commercial exploitation. This protection encompasses both publicity rights, which address the unauthorized commercial use of one's image, and dilution concerns, including any acts to tarnish the image or goodwill of the celebrity. Furthermore, any unlawful alterations, deletions, or other modifications, as well as the distribution of the Plaintiff's performances, voice recordings, or videos, that could potentially harm his reputation or prejudice his persona, would constitute a violation of the Plaintiff's moral rights concerning his performances.
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