Personality Rights in Online Fantasy Sports in India: Legal Challenges in use of Player Identity.
Introduction
The rise of online fantasy sports sites in India has completely altered the landscape of sports consumption in the country. These online portals allow participants to form their own sets of virtual players by picking actual athletes, and the results are based on actual performances on the sport’s stage. Although online fantasy sport sites are legally acknowledged as games of skill, they are also a source of serious concern for their potential to disseminate athletes’ identities without authorisation for commercial gain. The idea of Personality Rights is hence right in the thick of action in this scenario.
The position that prevails in India, with regard to personality rights, is that these rights have hardly received any legislative recognition. This paper throws light on how personality rights have evolved through judicial pronouncements in India, how such personality rights have been applied to online fantasy sports sites, and how such personality rights have posed challenges to the commercial exploitation of the identities of players in the modern digital age.
The lack of legislative definiteness on personality and publicity rights appears to have become increasingly apparent in the recent past, especially in the context of the changing digital regulatory framework in India. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, while indicating the legislative will to regulate personal data and informational autonomy, fails to touch upon the aspect of the commercial appropriation of personality and likeness. Moreover, no specific regulation regulates the use of identity related to sportspersons in the context of fantasy sports websites. The lack of legislation has made the courts the principal arbiters of personality rights, and there has been a piecemeal approach in this area through judgments.
In this regard, this article proposes the need for an intensified protection for personality rights involving athletes under Indian law, especially with regard to online fantasy sports portals. Although there is no denial regarding the economic potential and resultant innovations with online fantasy sports portals, this paper holds the view that there is an unequal benefit to online fantasy sports portals under present law with regard to mass commercialization of personality.
Concept and Evolution of Personality Rights in India
A legislative framework specifically addressing personality rights is still unknown in Indian law. There is no law that specifically addresses the commercial use of a personality’s name, image, likeness, or any other identifying features of a personality in a commercial manner, and this is now more regrettable in the current online or digital age, where personalities are commercialized in numerous online platforms, artificial intelligence, and fantasy sports websites. Courts in India have been at the forefront in formulating the personality rights law in the country through the law of torts.
A constitutional scaffold, under Article 21 of the Constitution, safeguarding the right to life, dignity, and privacy, has been carved out in the realm of personality rights to ensure their judicial protection on the strength of the Supreme Court’s radical interpretation of privacy as a conferred right. High Courts, particularly the Delhi High Court, have subsequently stretched the jurisprudence of personality rights, developed in the context of privacy, to cope with modern challenges of the digital age, such as imitation crimes on the internet as well as the misuse of AI.
Personality rights, also called publicity rights, are the rights of an individual to control the commercial use of their identity, including name, image, likeness, voice, and other personal attributes. The Indian courts have placed these rights primarily within Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty.
The Delhi High Court then formally recognized the rights to publicity in ICC Development (International) Ltd. v. Arvee Enterprises[1], wherein the honourable court held that there exists a right of publicity in an individual and no person is entitled to convert that for commercial purposes without consent.¹ The court explained that although there exists a legitimate interest of the public in receiving information, it does not extend to the area of commercial exploitation of an individual’s persona. Subsequently, in Titan Industries Ltd. v. Ramkumar Jewellers[2], the court restrained the unauthorised use of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan’s images in advertising by recognising the proprietary dimension of celebrity identity. The judgment affirmed that misuse of a celebrity’s persona amounts to passing off and violates his personality rights.
The Delhi High Court has considerably broadened the contours of personality rights to keep up with the increasing threats to individuals from artificial intelligence, deep fakes, and digital impersonations. In Anil Kapoor vs. Simply Life India & Others[3], it was held to control the unauthorised use of one’s name, image, voice, and mannerisms, to prevent dilutions of citizens’ proprietary rights to their persona through technological advancements. One of the specific risks of AI-generated misuse, as cited by the Delhi High Court, is identity theft.
This developing body of law is directly pertinent with regards to online platforms that use algorithms in order to exploit athletic identity and performances by utilizing them in online fantasy sports sites, in a similar manner in which AI misuse affects the autonomy of celebrities.
One of the most prominent gaps within the Indian legal system regards the non-recognition of sportspersons as “performers” within the framework of the Copyright Act, 1957. The definition of a performer within Section 2(qq) includes only artists, thereby denying recognition, despite the fact that sporting events entail skilful performances, to sportspersons.
Sporting performances are:
- Expressive and skill-intensive,
- Broadcast, replayed, analysed, archived,
- Independently monetized across various platforms such as Fantasy Sports.
One of the most cited sportsperson-specific personality rights cases is that of Sourav Ganguly v. Tata Tea Ltd[4]., wherein the Calcutta High Court restrained the unauthorised use of Sourav Ganguly’s name and achievements in a promotional campaign. The court held that such a use created a false impression of endorsement, thereby violating Ganguly’s personality rights.
In the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs. Union of India[5], the Supreme Court of India gave the right to privacy the status of a Fundamental Right, strengthening the constitutional base of personality rights in India. This is quite noteworthy in the context of the use of a person’s personal information for business purposes.
Fantasy sports websites use sport performances to establish algorithms for scores, fantasy points, and predictions.” If sport performers were recognized as performers, websites would need to purchase restricted licenses to ensure consent, attribution, and fair payment for their work, ending the existing imbalance.
Fantasy Sports Platforms & Commercial Use of Player Identity
The fantasy sports sites appear to be heavily dependent on professional athlete identities for their functionality. The names of athlete participants, their images, affiliations with teams, as well as their statistical game performances per event and tournament, are essential for game participation and productivity for users interacting with these sites.
India’s legal stance in this area is similar to that of the UK and acknowledges the test of perplexity as used by American courts. In the ICC Case, the Supreme Court held that personality rights can typically be addressed under the tort of passing away in India, and the requirements of the same would not be met if there was no chance that the public would be misled or confused into believing that the defendants were referring to the Cricket World Cup, which is organised by the ICC.
Fantasy sports gaming platforms would not work if not for the identity of players. The games such as Dream11 are essentially made of names, images, team affiliations, performances, and real-time statistics that form the core of gameplay and user engagement. These platforms generate revenues through entry fees, sponsorships, and advertising-revenues directly linked to the popularity and brand value of the athletes.
However, courts have always maintained a distinction regarding informational use and commercial exploitation on online platforms. This was further established in DM Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v. Baby Gift House Pvt. Ltd.[6], where the Delhi High Court prohibited the use of singer Daler Mehndi’s personality without authorization to underscore that celebrities hold a copyright to use their identity for commercial purposes. In the recent case of Sakshi Malik[7], it has been held that the concerned personality or “the person whose personality is to be embodied in the celebrity possessing the said personality rights may exercise agency and control over the fashion by which they are to be disseminated.
Fantasy sports sites extend the notion of objective reporting in the sense that they use player identities for the creation of cyberspace commodities. The economic viability of these sites is directly related to the popularity of the players. Fantasy sports, as offered on platforms such as Dream11, go beyond the presentation of sports information; they package athleticism as a kind of digital product for financial gain, with significant implications for endorsement by implication and unjust enrichment.
It is important here to note that despite the massive growth in the use of fantasy sports websites globally, there is no specifically governing act in India in this area that deals with the commercial use of sports personalities’ identity. Unlike sports broadcasting rights that are regulated by some sort of licensing regime or law enacted with the understanding of rights between different parties involved in sports broadcast licensing rights on one side and sports broadcast rights on the other, the commercial use of sports personality identity on fantasy sports websites is yet to be regulated.
In the case of Sunil Gavaskar vs. Cricket Tak (Crickettak557) & Ors.[8] On 23rd December 2025 (Delhi High Court), the Court extended protection to the legendary cricketer’s personality rights against the unauthorized online use of his name, image, and personality. The Court held that sportspersons have a sole proprietary right in their personality, and unauthorized commercial use, especially on the internet, amounts to violation of personality rights.
As the Court highlighted, “The fact that a person is a sportsperson and a public figure does not necessarily put their personality in the public domain for anyone to use for free.” It must be noted that such a decision recognizes the inherent risk of abuse, especially with respect to online forums where content is driven for revenue generation through clicks and advertising.
This should affirm the rule that the digital dissemination of publications, participation in fantasy sports, and use of online sports content platforms must respect the consensual use of athletic identity for commercial purposes.
Sportspersons as Performers: The Missing Link
The status of sportspersons as performers is an important, yet poorly developed branch of Indian law. While the Copyright Act, 1957 prima facie bestows performer’s rights upon artistic performers, scholars argue that athletes too are needed to perform with skill in public and their performances should similarly be protected.
In Star India Pvt. Ltd. v. Piyush Agarwal[9], the Delhi High Court appreciated the commercial value of sports broadcasts and performances, considering sports events as valuable intellectual assets. However, the law stops short of granting athletes independent performer’s rights over the downstream commercial use of their performances.
These fantasy sports platforms create value out of live performances by reducing them to digital scoring mechanisms; yet, the players are not directly remunerated or in control of any such secondary exploitation. This gap contributes to the weakening of protection for athletes in the digital sports economy.
Balancing Personality Rights with Freedom of Trade
A too liberal construction of personality rights might obstruct business and hamper public access to information. This is why a balance is now practiced by the judiciary.
In the case of Khushwant Singh v. Maneka Gandhi[10], the Delhi High Court stated that Personality rights need to be counterbalanced by the right to free speech and expression. In another case, R. Rajagopal v. State of Tamil Nadu[11], the Supreme Court identified the right to information as an element of the right to privacy but emphasized due caution with regard to commercial exploitation of an individual’s identity. Such fantasy sports sites may use the following principles to justify the operations. But the bottom line would be if the use is commercial or exploitative.
Comparative Jurisprudence
Some comparative observations further clarify this matter. In the United States of America, there is considerable publicity right. This is evidenced in Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co[12]., where the Supreme Court demonstrated that unsanctioned use of a performer’s actions would constitute a violation of publicity right despite transmission in a news context.
Likewise, under the Keller v. Electronic Arts decision, published in Keller v. Electronic Arts Inc[13]., American Courts established that the use of college sportsmen’s likenesses for video games was tantamount to an infringement of their right to publicity.
Regulatory Void & Need for Reform
India does not presently have:
- Statutory personality/publicity rights,
- Clear licensing guidelines for fantasy sports sites,
- Guidelines for data monetization of athletes.
This ambiguity leads to a lack of protection for athletes. The increasing size of the fantasy sports industry calls for regulation in matters of permissible use and compensation for athletes.
Conclusion
The convergence of personality rights and fantasy sports websites has been considered to pose one of the most complex issues in sports and IP laws in India. On one hand, fantasy sports websites contribute towards innovation and economic development; on the other hand, use of personality raises legitimate concerns of unauthorized commercial use.
Recent judicial developments, especially from the Delhi High Court in the context of AI-driven misuse of celebrity identity, show an increased judicial sensitivity to the commercial and technological exploitation of personality. Alongside the unregulated practices of fantasy sports platforms, these works demonstrate a pressing need for legislative reform. In the absence of any coherent statutory framework that recognizes athlete personality and performance rights, the digital sports economy is in danger of normalizing the commodification of identity without consent-a process undermining not just individual dignity but legal certainty itself.
Author:– Srijan Saha, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us at support@ipandlegalfilings.com or IP & Legal Filing.
[1] ICC Dev. (Int’l) Ltd. v. Arvee Enters., 2003 (26) PTC 245 (Del.)
[2] Titan Indus. Ltd. v. Ramkumar Jewellers, 2012 (50) PTC 486 (Del.)
[3] Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India & Ors., CS (COMM) 652/2023 (Delhi High Court, Sept. 20, 2023)
[4] Sourav Ganguly v. Tata Tea Ltd., (1999) 2 CHN 346 (Cal.)
[5] Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1
[6] DM Ent. Pvt. Ltd. v. Baby Gift House, 2010 (42) PTC 479 (Del.)
[7] Sakshi Malik v. Venkateshwara Creations Pvt. Ltd. & Ors., 2021 SCC OnLine Bom 352
[8] Mr. Sunil Gavaskar vs Cricket Tak (Crickettak557) And Ors on 23 December, 2025
[9] Star India Pvt. Ltd. v. Piyush Agarwal, 2013 (53) PTC 1 (Del.)
[10] Khushwant Singh v. Maneka Gandhi, (2002) 1 SCC 582
[11] R. Rajagopal v. State of T.N., (1994) 6 SCC 632
[12] Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broad. Co., 433 U.S. 562 (1977)
[13] Keller v. Elec. Arts Inc., 724 F.3d 1268 (9th Cir. 2013).
