The rapid expansion of technology is leading to digital transformation in every walk of life. At the same time technological advancement has led to the creation of software/applications or tools that are being deployed for proliferation of Intellectual Property infringements for making profit. The recent trend is to create AI applications that can use name, voice, signatures, photographs, image, caricature, likeness, persona, and other attributes of a celebrity for unlicensed commercial purpose for making money. . Thus, the need for the protection of personality rights has become even more crucial than ever.

Facts:

In a recent decision by the Bombay High court (Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP & Ors.) by the Single Judge Bench of Justice R.I. Chagla upheld the personality rights of the famous singer, Arijit Singh affirming that the singer has the rights over his name, voice, images, likeliness and other personality traits. This is not the first case of violation of personality rights of a celebrity in India, rather the Indian courts, in various landmark judgements have highlighted the importance of protecting the personality rights of the celebrities.

The Plaintiff, Arijit Singh, who is famous playback singer in the Indian music industry has filed this present suit seeking protection of his personality rights his own name, voice, signatures, photograph, image, caricature, likeness, persona, and various other attributes of his personality against unauthorized commercial exploitation and misuse thereof. The suit also pertains to the violation of the Plaintiff’s moral rights under Section 38-B of the Copyright Act, 1957.

This lawsuit is filed against a range of defendants, approx. 38, including AI platforms, owners of restaurants and pubs, organizers of virtual reality events, merchandisers, ecommerce portals, domain name registrars. The defendants were using AI-generated content that create audio and visual content mimicking his name, voice, mannerism/manner of singing, photograph, image, likeness, persona, and other attributes of his personality, made misleading representations of his involvement in various events, and unauthorized sale of merchandise featuring his name and image.

Plaintiff:

1. The Plaintiff, Arijit Singh, comes from a small town Murshidabad, in West Bengal and started his journey with a music reality show, “Fame Gurukul,” and is now one of the most popular and highest paid playback singer in India and globally.
2. The Plaintiff, being a well-known singer and celebrity, holds the right to command and control the use of his personality traits since the same form part of his exclusive Personality Rights and Publicity Rights.
3. The Plaintiff has made a conscious personal choice to refrain from any kind of brand endorsement or gross commercialization of his personality traits for the past several years.
4. The Plaintiff has essentially set out the following infringing elements and activities of the defendants that lead to the filing of the present suit.
   1. 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. Defendant No. 3 used Real Voice Cloning (RVCs) to convert any speech or voice recording or audio file into the Plaintiff’s voice. Defendant No. 4 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. Videos were also uploaded on social media channels promoting a step wise guideline for unauthorized conversion of any text or speech or voice recording or audio file into the Plaintiff’s voice by using the AI platforms.  Defendant No. 6 operates the websites i.e., www.topmediai.com and www.filme.imyfone.com, where blog post / article on how to use their portal for text / speech / voice conversion to Plaintiff’s voice, were found. 
   2. Deceptive assertions of having association with the Plaintiff: Defendant no. 9 is a restaurant / pub which hosted an event in Bengaluru, Karnataka by unauthorizedly using the Plaintiff’s name and image for 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.  Upon signing up for the event, the name and image / likeness of the Plaintiff was broadcasted / advertised / displayed to users so as to misrepresent to such users that the Plaintiff would be performing at music event.
   3. Sales of the merchandise bearing the Plaintiff’s name, images, caricatures, likeliness, etc.: Defendants no. 11 to 23 are manufacturers who are accused of commercially exploiting the Plaintiff’s publicity rights by selling their merchandise bearing the Plaintiff’s names, images, photographs, likeliness, etc., on various e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Desertcart, Kreateworld, TheBong, Prints4u, Swagshirts99, Redbubble, etc. to derive commercial gain.
   4. Platforms to create, search, store, and share 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 and subjecting it to embarrassment and humiliation.
   5. Infringing Domain names: Certain unknown entities registered the domain names www.arijitsingh.com and www.arijitsingh.in, without the consent of the Plaintiff, containing the whole of his name and infringing the personality rights. Upon accessing these websites, the webpage redirects to https://goid.com/app/home which appears to be a third-party website. The Registrars of the infringing domain names were impleaded as defendants as 26 to 31.  Further, Defendant No. 32 is the owner / operator of the cloud data storage platform www.drive.google.com and www.docs.google.com engaged in the business of providing cloud storage and YouTube for video streaming facilities to store and share their files / data and the impugned videos.  Defendant No. 33 to 36 are the owners of e-commerce websites such as Amazon, Flipkart, meesho, redbubble, etc.

Court’s Interim Ruling:

1. The court that it is well settled that celebrities are entitled to protection of facets of their personality such as their name, images, voice, signature, etc. against unauthorized commercial use. Establishing celebrity status is the primary requirement in an action to protect personality rights and the right to publicity.
2. Making AI tools available that enable the conversion of any voice into that of a celebrity without permission constitutes a violation of the celebrity’s personality rights. Such tools facilitate unauthorized appropriation and manipulation of a celebrity’s voice, a key component of their personal identity and public persona.
3. The court granted an ex parte injunction ad-interim order, restraining the defendants from violating Arijit Singh’s Personality Rights and/or Publicity Rights by multiple third parties and AI platforms without his express consent. Defendants were ordered to suspend website infringing URLs with a mandate that the same should not be transferred to third parties and remove the unauthorized content from all digital platforms in all modes, media and formats.
4. The Court further agreed with the submission of plaintiff’s counsel that even though freedom of speech and expression allows for critique and commentary, it did not grant the license to exploit a celebrity’s persona for commercial gain.

To sum up, the case highlights the courts are stepping in to protect unauthorized commercial exploitation of personality rights not only to prevent third parties profiting from a celebrity’s persona but also protect consumers from such misleading offerings.