Licensing of character and personality rights in India

Associating products with well-known characters and personalities has been one of the most popular marketing strategies adopted by companies the world over including in India. Likewise, owners of character and personality rights have identified this strategy as one of the most lucrative avenues for commercially exploiting their rights by licensing them to interested companies.

Known as “character or personality merchandising” in common parlance, this is an evolving and dynamic form of merchandising, which uses fictional or animation characters, mythological characters, sports and cultural mascots or icons as well as elements of persona such as voice, image, likeness, photograph and signature of famous individuals.

Apart from internationally renowned characters and personalities, Indian markets have witnessed some home-grown characters being licensed for merchandise, such as Chacha Chowdhury and Saboo from the famous Diamond Comics, and characters from the popular Amar Chitra Katha publications and the films Ra-One and Krrish.

Kavita Mundkur Nigam is an associate at Krishna & Saurastri Associates.