Personality Rights and Real Person Fictions: Do The Real Person Get a Say?

Abstract

In this rapidly evolving world individuals have found various ways to express themselves and share that part of them with the world. In this modern age anyone with smart device and an internet connect can become a celebrity and with the same items anyone can create fictional works that are based on those and other celebrities. These creations are generally referred to as Real Person Fictions (RPFs). RPFs can bem short stories, poems, artworks and even full length novels. These works help creators practice their craft, bond with a community and break the bounds of reality but what happens if this right of the author to express themselves starts interfering with the real person’s right to publicity and privacy? Celebrities have expressed the implication of harmful portrayals in these RPFs which have had real life implications. The growing trend of commercializing RPFs on a big scale adds an incentive to look into this issueand address it as a bud. The concept of personality right is well established in India however the lack of codification of the same has led to contradictory judgments and blurred lines of boundaries. In this regard this article attempts to address the issue of personalityright or the right to publicity when it comes to real person fictions. This paper is divided in three parts. The first part deals with definition of real person fictions and how it differs from the existing classifications of fictional creations. The second part analyzes the efficiency of existing Indian laws when it comes to governing RPFs and the implication of the same. The third chapter provides informed suggestions for an enactment to govern personality right in India.