The Personality Rights Battle: When Startup Founders Become Celebrities

Indian courts are extending personality rights protections from celebrities to startup founders like Aman Gupta as founders become public personalities through platforms like Shark Tank India

The rise of AI deepfakes and online scams has made founders’ identities commercially valuable and legally vulnerable, prompting courts to protect names, voices, images, and catchphrases

The trend also raises concerns over free speech, parody, and how much control public figures should have over their public personas

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For most of India’s legal history, personality rights were concerns largely reserved for film stars and cricketers. Amitabh Bachchan went to court over the unauthorised use of his voice, which intuitively made sense given that he is among the country’s most recognisable public figures. 

But Aman Gupta? Why would the founder of a consumer electronics brand need to approach the Delhi High Court to restrain third parties from exploiting his personality rights without permission? 

The HC recently granted Gupta an........

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