Beyond the Stars: How Indian IP Law Fails the Booming Tarot Industry

Introduction

Tarot cards are no longer just a mystical tool but they have become a whole new industry of wellness and creativity. Just on a single social media platform, on a regular basis, we see a lot of creators from India become Tarot readers, this tarot reader economy then becomes businesses, communities with loyal followings and customers. The readers of Tarot cards and the community they have feel a sense of belongingness, beyond it just being a commercial means of income. Artists are creating their own versions of aesthetics, mythology and culture. The global market of tarots is estimated to be worth over a billion dollars and India is one of the fastest growing markets.

Tarot card culture is currently only seen as aesthetics and the legal blind spot goes completely unnoticed. Who owns this tarot card design? Can a particular style of reading and analyzing the cards be protected? What is the stance of the Indian author who spends their time and effort in illustrating a unique version of the 78 card deck for someone to just make copies and sell it for profit? The Copyright Act, 1957 does exist to protect artistic expression but it has never been tested in this specific context. There is no landmark jurisprudence on this particular concept of tarot cards and intellectual property. There is no proper framework on this expanding economy, which has been becoming a part of livelihoods of these creators who are building around this ancient practice.

This is not just about mysticism but about creative ownership, artistic recognition and whether the Indian legal framework is equipped to protect a new generation of creators working and creating a livelihood at the intersection of creativity, spirituality and commerce.

What makes Tarot cards legally complex

At the first instance, the concept of tarots is completely unlikely to be associated with law or Intellectual property law in particular. It seems purely spiritual, intuitive and deeply personal and in today’s context, we must add commercials as well. When we strip the mysticism, we are left with a creative industry built on three distinct layers: Art, system and brand. Each of these layers gives rise to different and equally important Intellectual property questions.

The first layer: Art

Every deck of the tarot cards containing 78 cards are illustrated which denote certain meaning, imagery and a whole story behind each of the cards. These illustrations are original artistic works. When an independent artist creates a certain version of the cards, it is the same as any artistic expression such as paintings or any art work.

The second layer: System

The tarots have a structure, 78 cards, two parts named Major and Minor Arcana, with specific meanings and stories behind it to each card, and different ways of laying out the cards - spreads. These systems and structures are ancient and do not belong to any particular person. This becomes a grey area open to interpretations on a person's unique understanding, framework and methods of doing things with it. Can these be protected? This is where the Intellectual property law becomes complicated because law does not protect ideas and methods generally but only the expression of those ideas and methods are protected.

The Third layer: Brand

A tarot reader in the current situation is not just someone who reads cards about people’s life. They are a brand, a business and a creator of their particular style and identity. They not only create content on it, they form communities, give people the sense of belongingness not just about the reading but for the person behind it. This personal brand is probably the most vulnerable to copying and misuse, and ironically also the one that existing trademark law is most equipped to handle, at least on paper.

Understanding these layers separately is important because the legal answer to each is distinct. In India, these questions are often unanswered by courts.

Copyright and the 78 card problem

The beginning point for any discussion around the copyright issue of tarot is Rider-Waite-Smith deck. This deck was created in 1909 by artist Pamela Colman Smith with the guidance of Arthur Edward Waite. This particular deck is the foundation of the tarots we know now. All the stories, images, and the symbolism traces back to this deck. Since it was created in 1909, it is available in public domain now, which means anyone can reproduce, sell or build on it freely.

This is where the first legal conundrum begins. The tarot has a shared visual language, its origins from the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, every new deck draws from the same well of symbols, those of the high priestess between two pillars, the tower struck by lightning. This situation gives rise to a question: when does drawing from shared symbolism become copying from someone’s original work? The line between inspiration and infringement is significantly blurred.

The law does protect an independent artist's deck, meaning their own illustrations, their way of interpretation, visual styles and their understanding of each card. This is protected the moment it is created under copyright automatically even without registration under the Copyright Act, 1957.

The problem arises when someone copies that original deck. If a manufacturer in another city recreates an indie artist’s work and sells them as their own deck, it is a direct copyright infringement. Proving the infringement is the hardest task, where all these creators are constantly shared on Instagram and Pinterest. Proving the infringement requires showing that the copied work is substantially similar to the original and that the copier also has the access to the original work.

The biggest problem in this aspect is also that most Indian artists do not know that their work is automatically protected, that they need to document and watermark it, they also have no idea how to enforce their rights if someone else copies them.

Trademark and the Personal Brand Problem 

The copyright protects the art and the trademark protects the identity, and in the tarot world, identity is everything.

A tarot reader’s brand is one of their most valuable assets. Their logo, name, signature style of presenting readings and their analysis, name of their deck and their readings can all be trademarked. Under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, any distinctive mark that identifies a service or product can be registered and protected. A tarot reader operating as "The Indigo Oracle" or "Mystic Mandala Tarot" has a protectable brand identity.

The problem here is that most tarot readers don't register their trademark (only the copyright protection arises the moment it is created). They build their valuable community on instagram, grow followers but never think of the legal protection until someone else copies them and hoodwinks the community by confusing, using similar names and styles. The damage here is already done without the registration.

This situation is not hypothetical, it is frequently noticed with the rise of the tarot community in India. The original creator, without the trademark registration, has very little legal recourse. If even globally the law is still figuring this out, India's silence on the matter is not surprising but it is still concerning. The global legal community is only beginning to grapple with these questions. In 2023, a US court ruled in favour of Hermès in the MetaBirkin case, where an artist had created and sold NFTs resembling the iconic Birkin bag. The court held that even digital artistic expression cannot shield trademark infringement. India has no equivalent judgment yet, which makes the gap even more stark.

The solution is not complicated or expensive, the registration of trademark in India is relatively affordable and straightforward. It protects the creator by giving exclusive rights over their brand name, logo, style and everything else associated with it and also gives them the ability to take legal action against the copycats.

The Indian Context 

India is one of the fastest growing markets with tarots. Notably, post pandemic, the wellness industry has boomed and tarots also have come in with it. Instagram alone has thousands of indian tarot readers, and these readers have created serious businesses around this market. A lot of independent Indian artists have created original decks rooted in Indian mythology, Mughal art, south Indian temple iconography, and even bollywood aesthetics. This is a creative economy and not just as a spiritual one that is uniquely Indian and it is almost entirely legally unprotected.

The Copyright Act, 1957 and The Trade Marks Act, 1999 technically applies to tarot creators and readers but neither statute has ever been tested in the specific context of tarot. There are no Indian judgements, guidelines, no industry body that addresses the IP concerns of this community. There is a whole legal vacuum that these creators are essentially operating in.

This gap matters because copying is unrestrained. Indian tarot readers regularly report about the infringements in many angles. Most of the creators, and readers have no idea they have legal rights, let alone how to enforce them.

The reason why India’s situation becomes unique is the cultural dimension. The tarot in India is not just a business, it sits at the intersection of spirituality, wellness, creative expression and also sense of belongingness. Many creators come from communities where the access to legal education and lawyers is limited. The law does exist but it is inaccessible to the very people who need it the most.

Conclusion

Tarot has outgrown the reputation as just a fringe practice. It has grown as a creative industry, wellness economy, a cultural movement and also gives people the sense of belongingness and in India it is growing faster than the pace in which the law is trying to keep up. This has grown more than the literal meaning of the tarot cards and became a place of expression of a creative mind. The artists and readers are growing communities and building brands around this ancient practice and this deserves the same legal protection as any other creative profession.

The tools exist. The copyright act protects the original artistic work and the trademark act protects the brand identities. The awareness is the missing piece. Most tarot creators in India are legally vulnerable not because the law fails them but because they do not even know that the law is on their side. 

The ask is simple here. Tarot creators need to document their work, watermark their illustrations, and register their trademarks. Legal literacy needs to reach communities that have historically been kept from it. 

The cards may predict the future, but it is the law that protects it.

Author: Rajeshwari Sivakumar, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at  Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney.

References

1. The Copyright Act, 1957 (Act No. 14 of 1957), Government of India.

2. The Trade Marks Act, 1999 (Act No. 47 of 1999), Government of India.

3. Hermès International v. Mason Rothschild, No. 22-cv-384 (S.D.N.Y. 2023).

4. Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur Edward Waite, The Rider Waite Tarot Deck (1909).

5. Grand View Research, Tarot Card Market Size, Share and Trends Analysis Report (2023), available at grandviewresearch.com.

6. World Intellectual Property Organization, Understanding Copyright, available at wipo.int.

7. Intellectual Property India, Trade Mark Registry, available at ipindia.gov.in.