Five US models filed suit against FashionGlama.com and two individuals for the use of their photographs \u2014 referred to in the proceedings as “use of persona” \u2014 in connection with escort services and on pornographic websites. The models had allegedly signed six-month contracts for modelling services and were reported to have been distressed upon finding their photographs on unwelcome websites. The suit alleges fraud, misrepresentation, unauthorised use of photographs, breach of reputation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.<\/p>\n
Though rarely pursued, such issues arise in the Indian context as well. Photographs and personas of models are at times posted on obscene websites or used to endorse unwelcome products without authorisation. The IT Act and Copyright Law provide certain remedies for such use; however, the existence of a valid contract transferring rights and permitting unlimited uses raises specific challenges.<\/p>\n
Where an aspiring model signs a contract transferring all rights in her photographs to a portfolio or talent management website, the question arises whether she can, on attaining celebrity status, prevent further use of those photographs. Such contracts frequently include clauses permitting use of the photographs in any manner, for any purpose. Courts have held, however, that transfer of copyright in a photograph does not permit the transferee to use the photograph for endorsement purposes.<\/p>\n
In practical terms, if rights in a photograph are transferred, a website may sell the photograph but cannot permit its use in a company’s brochure or for endorsing a product or service. The precise limits of such use must be determined on a case-by-case basis, having regard to the nature of the use. As with several aspects of entertainment law, the position is not straightforward.<\/p>\n
This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The post analyses a case involving US models suing for unauthorized use of their persona, drawing parallels with similar issues in India. It explores how contracts and copyright law impact the legal remedies available to models in such scenarios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":36,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[93,7138,51,7137,7136,5406,196],"class_list":["post-21476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyrights","category-intellectual-property","tag-copyright-law","tag-endorsement-law","tag-entertainment-law-2","tag-it-act-india","tag-model-rights","tag-unauthorized-use","tag-use-of-persona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149802,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21476\/revisions\/149802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}