Bombay High Court grants interim relief to Arijit Singh in suit to protect his personality rights

The Bombay High Court recently granted interim relief to singer Arijit Singh in a copyright suit filed by him against Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms and others for violation of his personality rights. [Arijit Singh v. Codible Ventures LLP and Ors].Justice RI Chagla observed that Singh’s traits, including his name, voice, image, likeness, persona and other attributes of his personality are protectable elements of his personality rights and right to publicity.The Court said that conversion of any voice into that of a celebrity without the latter's permission constitutes a violation of the celebrity's personality rights.“This form of technological exploitation not only infringes upon the individual’s right to control and protect their own likeness and voice but also undermines their ability to prevent commercial and deceptive uses of their identity."It also highlighted how performers are vulnerable to being targeted by AI content, which could potentially jeopardise their livelihood."These Defendants are attracting visitors / drawing traffic to their websites and/or AI platforms by capitalizing on the Plaintiff’s popularity and reputation, thereby subjecting the Plaintiff personality rights to potential abuse. These Defendants are emboldening internet users to create counterfeit sound recordings and videos that misuse the Plaintiff’s character and identity...Additionally, allowing the Defendants to continue using the Plaintiff’s name, voice, likeness etc. in the form of an AI content, without consent of the Plaintiff, not only risks severe economic harm to the Plaintiff’s life/career, but also leaves room for opportunities for misutilization of such tools by unscrupulous individuals for nefarious purposes.".Singh had approached the Court seeking protection of his name, voice, signature, photograph, image, caricature, likeness and various other attributes of his personality. This, after he found that various AI platforms were using sophisticated algorithms to create audio and visual content by mimicking his personality traits. One of the platforms used a text-to-speech software that allowed users to convert text into Singh's voice. The unauthorised use of Singh's traits were not limited to AI platforms. Another defendant, a pub in Bangalore, used Singh's name and image to promote an event sans authorisation. Yet another defendant was using Singh's photographs on merchandise sold on e-commerce websites, while another had registered domain names using Singh's name (arijitsingh.com).Singh's counsel argued that the singer has the exclusive right to control and command the use of his personality traits, and that unauthorised commercial use of these traits by the defendants should be restrained to prevent the potential tarnishing of his reputation. Additionally, it was argued that any unauthorised alteration or dissemination of Singh’s performances which causes harm to his reputation would violate his moral rights under Section 38-B of the Copyright Act, 1957..After considering the arguments, the Court said that a strong case is made out for the grant of interim relief to Singh. In the context of freedom of speech and expression of the defendants, the Court said,"...even though such freedom allows for critique and commentary, it does not grant the license to exploit a celebrity's persona for commercial gain. In these circumstances, this Court is inclined to protect the Plaintiff against any wrongful exploitation of his personality rights and right to publicity."It thus restrained the defendants from using the (i) name “Arijit Singh”, (ii) voice/vocal style and technique/vocal arrangements and interpretations, (iii) mannerism/manner of singing, (iv) photograph, image or its likeness, (v) signature, persona, and/or any other attributes of his personality in any form, without Singh's consent.The Court also ordered the suspension of URLs bearing Singh's name."On the next date, after giving notice to these Defendants, this Court shall consider the Plaintiff’s application to take over these domain names subject to payment of requisite charges," the order stated.As regards certain videos showing users how they can sound like celebrities (including Singh) using AI software, the Court said that it would not be approporiate to order the taking down of these videos. Instead, it ordered,"A direction to these Defendants to simply remove or delete all the references to the Plaintiff’s name, image, voice, personality traits etc. in the said videos should suffice.".The interim relief granted by the Court will continue till September 3, a day after the next hearing is scheduled..Singh was represented by Advocates Hiren Kamod, Prem Khullar, Neha Iyer, Vaibhav Keni and Priyanka Joshi, instructed by Legasis Partners..[Read Order]