Your name is your business. Your face is your business. Your catchphrase is your business. Each is a separate filing.
The Indian creator economy crossed ₹2,200 crore in 2025 and is growing faster than the IP infrastructure around it. Most creators operate under their personal name, post copyrighted work daily, sign brand deals weekly, and have filed nothing.
The stack: trademark in the handle and the name, copyright in the body of work, contracts that retain ownership of brand-deal content, and an awareness of the Delhi High Court’s evolving personality rights doctrine.
Three filings cover most of the IP risk on day one. Each is a standalone service and each links to a deeper walkthrough.
The cheapest mistake-prevention: file the social handle and the creator name as trademarks in Class 41 (entertainment, education, video content services) plus Class 35 (marketing services, social-media management).
For creators selling merchandise, add the relevant goods class (Class 25 for apparel, Class 14 for jewellery). For creators with a book or podcast brand, Class 16 and Class 41 cover the publishing and broadcasting rights.
Personality rights are recently-developed Indian doctrine. The Delhi High Court’s orders in Anil Kapoor v. Simply Life India (2023) and Jackie Shroff v. The Peppy Store (2024) recognised that unauthorised use of a celebrity’s name, image, voice or distinctive features (catchphrase, mannerism) for commercial gain is actionable.
For creators with strong personal brand association — recognisable catchphrase, signature look, established image — these orders create real injunctive relief against AI deepfakes, unauthorised merchandise and brand-without-consent endorsements.
The default brand deal often assigns all IP in the content to the brand. That means the creator’s reel, voice and likeness become brand property — re-usable forever. Better: a licence with defined scope (territory, duration, channels) instead of an assignment. Brand-deal contract review for creators is one of our most common briefs.
Doing five+ brand deals a month? The contract template is leaving rights on the table — get the next one reviewed.
WhatsApp our team →Yes. File the handle as a wordmark in Class 41 (entertainment/content) and Class 35 (marketing). A registered trademark unlocks Meta’s IP takedown form and supports brand-impersonation claims.
Personality rights protect a person’s name, image, voice and distinctive features from unauthorised commercial use. Delhi High Court orders in Anil Kapoor (2023) and Jackie Shroff (2024) recognised them for celebrities with established public association.
Depends on the contract. The default in most brand templates is full assignment to the brand. A better structure for creators is a defined-scope licence — specific territory, duration and channels — with the creator retaining underlying rights.
Recent Delhi High Court orders on personality rights have granted injunctive relief against AI-generated impersonations of celebrity voice and image without consent. For non-celebrity creators, the protection runs through copyright in the original content plus contractual restrictions.