A celebrity acquires stardom or the status of a public figure through their talent and is identified by their name and other personal characteristics such as signature poses, talking styles, voices, etc., which can be categorized as a type of property. With the advent of technology and media, the value attached to the use of a celebrity's photograph, characteristics, mannerisms, etc., is very high, giving a commercial value to the personality traits of celebrities.
Celebrity rights include advertising rights, personality rights, privacy rights, reproduction rights and merchandising rights among others. Though there are no particular statutes for protection of celebrity rights, they are commonly protected under the trade mark and copyright laws.
Recently, the famous Indian actor, Amitabh Bachchan was granted an interim order by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court that prohibited the defendants from infringing the personality and publicity rights of Mr. Bachchan. The Hon'ble Court passed an ad-interim ex-parte order of injunction to restrain third parties from using his name, voice, face and other personality traits, without his consent. It was also held that the same would cause irreparable loss to his reputation.
In the same way, signature poses and signature moves of celebrities, which are identified and associated solely with them, may also be afforded protection. For example, one cannot think of iconic body movements without immediately recalling Michael Jackson's 'moonwalk'. Another iconic movement is Cristiano Ronaldo's goal celebration movement called 'siuuu', which means a resounding 'Yes!' in Spanish. Similarly, Kylian Mbappe's 'tucked arms' pose is a celebration that has been seen countless times from the French superstar. On the other hand, the Korean finger hearts, although popularized by the K-pop band BTS, reflect the Korean culture in general, and are now used by celebrities and bands all over the world.
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Body Movements as Trademarks - S.S. Rana & Co. (ssrana.in)
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