Kangana Ranaut moves Delhi HC seeking protection of personality rights

Actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of her personality and publicity rights against alleged unauthorised use of her name, image, likeness and other attributes of her persona.

Actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of her personality and publicity rights against alleged unauthorised use of her name, image, likeness and other attributes of her persona. Justice Vikas Mahajan is scheduled to hear the matter on Thursday.

Ranaut, who has acted in several Hindi films and is currently a Member of Parliament, has sought the court’s intervention to restrain the alleged unauthorised commercial exploitation of her identity and persona. Personality rights broadly protect an individual’s name, image, voice, likeness, signature and other distinctive attributes from unauthorised commercial exploitation. Indian courts have increasingly recognised such rights, particularly in cases involving actors and other public figures.

The Delhi High Court has in earlier cases granted protection to celebrities against unauthorised use of their personality traits. The court has, among others, protected the personality and publicity rights of actor Amitabh Bachchan, restraining unauthorised use of his name, image, voice and likeness. In the case of actor Anil Kapoor, the Delhi High Court also granted protection against misuse of his personality traits, including his name, image, likeness, voice and distinctive expressions, and restrained entities from exploiting these attributes without authorisation.

Similarly, the court has passed orders protecting the personality rights of actors including Rajinikanth, Jackie Shroff, Arijit Singh and Sonu Nigam in different proceedings involving alleged unauthorised use of their identity or persona. The courts have generally emphasised that while public figures are widely known and their public activities can be discussed and reported, their identity and distinctive personality attributes cannot ordinarily be commercially exploited without consent. (ANI)