Name, Fame, and a Legal Claim: The Rise of Personality Trademarks

The expounding attention brought to personality trademarks today is extraordinary. From that class of celebrities to influencers there is never an easier time to go out seeking legal protection against unpoliced commercial use of their identities. This can be observed in India where the situation is moving towards giving face to the unauthorized exploitation of personal brands. The right will protect an individual from misuse in publicity set as a part of privacy law. Though, much remains to be done to put such claims on a statutory footing, and court interpretations coupled with the existing intellectual property laws have come in to protect personality rights, simultaneously with the hefty overlap between personal identity usages and commercial usages. Hence, more robust legal protection for personality rights must come out to wear off exploitation and empower the said person to mint money out of his personal brand. 

 

Source: mondaq.com