Title: Collaborative Solutions: Cross Disciplinary Approaches to Achieve Global Sustainability Goals
Editors: Dr. Gautam Agrawal, and Dr. Swati Singh
ISBN: 978-81-69857-19-2
Chapter: 1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59646/765/1
Authors: Dakshita Sangwan, Manvit Tokas, and Daksh Godara
Abstract
“Recalibrating Indian IPR Framework in the Age of AI Advertising”
Art in the very early stages of its adoption in advertising and digital branding we see that which is breaking from what is known in intellectual property for some time. In particular we have the issue of deepfakes and AI produced synthetic media that is at the disposal of the unauthorized use of a celebrity’s voice, image, gestures, and person. This is putting forward issues that are very much uncharted for personality rights, publicity rights, and trademark law in India. While in the Indian legal field personality rights have been recognized over time through cases such as ICC Development (International) Ltd. v. Arvee Enterprises and D.M. Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v. Baby Gift House we still do not have a complete statutory framework which addresses issues related to AI generated identity use. This is a gap which in turn causes regulatory uncertainty in terms of digital revival of deceased stars, AI put out endorsements, and synthetic influencers. This paper looks at the issue of AI created deepfakes in relation to copyright law, trademark protection, passing off, and the issue of publicity rights as they play out in India. We see how the present which is the Copyright Act of 1957, Trade Marks Act of 1999, Information Technology Act of 2000, and data protection principles do in fact deal with what we may term as the issue of personality exploitation by AI. Also the study does a comparative study of regulatory approaches in the U.S. and EU which in turn looks at right of publicity case law and emerging AI regulation. We put forth that India should look to go beyond what we have seen thus far in terms of fragmentary judicial treatment and instead adopt a new stand alone statute for personality rights in the digital age. (1) legal recognition of personality rights, (2) that which requires the disclosure of AI generated endorsements, and (3) improved civil and criminal remedies for deepfake use in commercial advertising. In the age of synthetic identity replication, human personality as a form of intellectual capital is a must for the protection of celebrities which in turn also plays a role in upholding consumer trust and ethical advertising.