The Right To Control One’s Identity: A Constitutional And IPR-Based Study Of Personality Rights In India, The US, And Europe
- IJLLR Journal
- 2 hours ago
- 1 min read
Tushya Bhadani, Christ Deemed to be University, Bangalore
ABSTRACT
The right to control one’s identity, commonly referred to as personality rights, lies at the intersection of constitutional law and intellectual property regimes. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of how India, the United States, and Europe recognise and protect such rights. While the Supreme Court of India in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) established privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21, its scope remains inadequate to safeguard the commercial and reputational dimensions of personality rights, such as name, image, likeness, and voice. Unlike the United States, where the right of publicity is recognised through statutory and common law mechanisms, or the European Union, where the European Convention on Human Rights and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) afford robust protections, India lacks a dedicated statutory framework.
The study highlights the limitations of constitutional privacy jurisprudence in addressing market-oriented exploitation of identity and stresses the need for a distinct legislative regime. It examines key judicial doctrines, intellectual property overlaps, and landmark cases such as Zacchini v. Scripps Howard Broadcasting Co. in the US and Von Hannover v. Germany in Europe. Further, it explores contemporary challenges including deepfakes, AI generated likenesses, and the digital spread of personal attributes across social media platforms. The paper concludes by proposing harmonisation strategies and law reform for India, advocating for a codified right of publicity that balances commercial interests, free speech, and individual dignity in a digitally connected society.
Keywords: Personality Rights, Comparative Law, Right of Publicity, Digital Identity, Law Harmonisation
