Why legal race to protect celebrity and brand identity will only intensify in 2026
Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected].From Bollywood star Salman Khan to cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, and from Nutella to Taj Hotels, 2025 saw celebrities and brands alike rush to court to protect their identity from digital misuse.
In 2026, that courtroom scramble is expected to make way for deliberate, proactive action.Intellectual property lawyers and industry experts say the coming year will mark a shift from reactive litigation to structured, commercially driven strategies, as brands and public figures rethink how identity, goodwill and reputation are owned, licensed and enforced. The cost of unchecked misuse, they say, is now simply too high.“In 2026, proactive brand protection is likely to manifest through continuous domain and marketplace monitoring, quicker platform-level takedowns, and a stronger emphasis on trade dress,” said Sanchi Sehgal, senior associate for business and legal affairs at content management firm Tulsea.
This approach, she said, reflects the reality that brand harm today is often instantaneous, making prevention far more effective than post-facto correction.One of the clearest shifts expected in 2026 is the evolution of personality rights from ad-hoc court claims into structured commercial assets. What was largely celebrity-driven litigation in 2025 is expected to broaden to digital creators, athletes, influencers, podcasters and other high-visibility individuals whose identities carry commercial value.In 2025, the queue of Indian celebrities seeking legal protection for their
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