Actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of her personality and publicity rights against the unauthorised use of her name, image, likeness, voice and other attributes associated with her identity.
The matter was mentioned before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday for urgent listing. Ranaut’s plea seeks protection against the commercial exploitation and misuse of her persona without her authorisation, including through digital and online platforms.
Plea for protection
Ranaut’s suit seeks to restrain various entities from using identifiable attributes of her personality without consent. Personality rights broadly concern an individual’s ability to control the commercial exploitation of features uniquely associated with them, including their name, image, likeness, voice and signature.
The issue has assumed greater significance with the rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligence, deepfakes, face-morphing technology and other digital tools capable of creating realistic but fabricated images, videos and audio.
The precise scope of any protection granted to Ranaut will, however, depend on the Delhi High Court’s consideration of her claims and the competing rights involved.
Growing celebrity cases
Ranaut’s petition comes amid a series of suits filed by actors, sportspersons and other public personalities seeking judicial protection against unauthorised exploitation of their identities.
The Delhi High Court has dealt with personality-rights claims involving Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and several other celebrities. More recently, it has been examining cases involving Vivek Oberoi, Janhvi Kapoor and Aaradhya Bachchan as it considers the contours of personality rights in the digital age.
Courts have granted relief in cases involving fake endorsements, unauthorised merchandise, manipulated images and AI-generated material that falsely creates an impression of association or approval by a celebrity.
Court examining boundaries
The Delhi High Court has simultaneously cautioned that personality rights cannot operate as an unlimited prohibition on references to public figures.
In recent proceedings involving similar claims, the court has been examining where legitimate protection of a celebrity’s commercial identity ends and constitutionally protected speech, artistic expression, satire, parody, commentary and genuine fan activity begin.
The court has indicated that blanket injunctions may be problematic and that allegedly infringing material must be examined in its proper context.
This distinction is particularly relevant for public figures because their names and images routinely appear in journalism, commentary, biographies, criticism, memes and other forms of public discourse.
AI adds new challenge
Artificial intelligence has complicated the legal debate by making it considerably easier to generate convincing replicas of a person’s appearance and voice.
Celebrity personality-rights suits increasingly seek protection not merely against conventional unauthorised advertisements or merchandise but also against deepfakes, synthetic voices, face morphing and AI-generated content that may falsely suggest an endorsement or depict a person in circumstances that never occurred.
Such material can raise overlapping questions involving personality and publicity rights, privacy, reputation, copyright and passing off.
Courts have consequently been required to distinguish between unauthorised commercial exploitation or deceptive impersonation and uses that may be protected as legitimate expression.
Kangana a public figure
Ranaut has worked in the Hindi film industry for around two decades and has appeared in films including Queen, Tanu Weds Manu, Fashion and Manikarnika. She is also a sitting Lok Sabha MP from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.
Her status as both an actor and an elected representative adds another dimension to the case because personality-rights protection cannot ordinarily prevent legitimate reporting, criticism or political commentary concerning a public office-holder.
The lawsuit therefore concerns unauthorised exploitation of identifiable attributes of Ranaut’s persona rather than a general right to prevent discussion, reporting or lawful commentary about her.
The Delhi High Court will determine the scope of protection after considering the specific defendants, alleged instances of misuse and relief sought in the petition.