Expert articles on trademark, patent, copyright & IP law in India — written by registered IP professionals.
Natco v. Bayer, 2012. The first compulsory licence under Section 84 of the Patents Act — and the framework that any Indian generic, public-interest body or government can still invoke today.
DomainDelhi High Court, 1999. The case that put domain names inside Indian trademark law — and built the framework every cybersquatting matter has used since.
TrademarkS. Syed Mohideen v. P. Sulochana Bai. Section 34 of the Trade Marks Act protects the honest prior user — even against a later-registered identical mark. Here is how the defence works.
PatentEvery Indian patent holder must file Form 27 annually under Section 146(2). Most file it badly. Here is what the working requirement actually demands — and why bad filings cost Bayer the Nexavar case.
PatentSection 25 of the Patents Act gives Indian challengers two windows to block or revoke a patent — before grant and within one year after. Here is how each works.
TrademarkDaimler v. Hybo. The Indian doctrine of trademark dilution under Section 29(4) protects famous marks even against dissimilar goods. Here is how it works and when it applies.
PatentNovartis v. Union of India, 2013. The Supreme Court reading of Section 3(d) that blocks evergreening, kept generic Glivec affordable, and defined Indian patent law on the world stage.
TrademarkWhirlpool, Toyota, Daimler. The Indian doctrine that protects foreign brands without local registration — and the cases that defined its limits.
IP StrategyIndian D2C brands lose 5-15% of revenue to counterfeits on marketplaces. The takedown tooling exists — here is how to actually use it.
PatentPPH lets Indian applicants speed up examination by leveraging grants from partner offices like Japan. Two years off the examination timeline — here is how it works.
DesignSection 15(2) of the Copyright Act cuts off copyright after 50 reproductions. Design registration takes over. Here is how to file the right one at the right time.
TrademarkA licence permits use of the mark. A franchise replicates a business system around the mark. India treats them differently for tax, FEMA and quality control.
IP StrategyTerm sheets ask for an IP value. Most founders cannot produce one. Here is the framework Indian investors use, and how to build the IP register that supports it.
IP StrategyA C&D letter does not mean you have lost. It means a clock has started. Here is how to read the notice, assess the claim, and respond without making it worse.
TrademarkOnce a trademark is published in the Journal, anyone has 4 months to oppose. Section 21 is the gatekeeper — here is the full process, the timelines, and what wins.
IP StrategyMIT and Apache are usually fine. GPL and AGPL are not. The licence audit that catches Series A diligence is one you can run yourself — here is the playbook.
PatentPure software is excluded. Software linked to a technical effect is not. The Ferid Allani guidelines reopened patentability for genuine innovation — here is the line.
IP StrategyFounder agreements without IP assignments are the most common diligence failure. Here are the seven clauses that turn a default loose end into a registered company asset.
TrademarkSection 11(6) creates a separate class of well-known marks that get protection beyond their registered scope. Here is how Indian brands earn the status and what it gets them.
IP StrategyDelhi High Court orders in 2023 and 2024 recognised personality rights for Indian celebrities. Here is what they protect, who can rely on them, and how AI deepfakes fit.
TrademarkThe IPR Rules 2007 let Customs detain suspected counterfeits at any Indian port. The filing is online, low-cost, and one of the most under-used IP tools.
IP StrategyFounder-owned brand, no employee assignments, half the codebase is open-source. Diligence finds it in week one. Here is the checklist we run for buyers.
TrademarkThe IP India public search is free. The right way to use it takes 20 minutes. Most founders search wrong and find out at examination.
TrademarkIndia is first-to-file — but prior use still matters. Section 34 protects honest prior users. Here is when the calendar beats the certificate, and when it does not.
Trademark₹4,500 or ₹9,000 per class. Plus professional fees, search costs, objection replies, oppositions, renewals. The honest cost breakdown for Indian founders.
IP StrategyIndia has no Trade Secrets Act. Protection comes from contracts, equity and a long line of cases. Here is the NDA stack that actually holds up in court.
GI TagDarjeeling tea, Banarasi sarees, Mysore silk — each carries a Geographical Indication. Here is what a GI tag actually does, who owns it, and how to file one.
CopyrightCopyright protects your code, your content, your designs. Automatic at creation, evidentiary on registration. The startup stack every Indian founder skips.
PatentProvisional buys 12 months of priority for a partial filing. Complete starts examination immediately. Which one belongs in your next sprint?
BengaluruA Bengaluru SaaS founder closed a seed round, then found her product name already filed by a competitor. India is first-to-file. Here is the playbook.
InternationalOne filing through the Indian Trademarks Registry. 130+ countries on the table. 60 to 70 percent cheaper than filing nationally everywhere.
TrademarkYour trademark examination report arrived. You have 30 days. Here is the exact reply that wins the objection.
BengaluruBengaluru deep tech runs on genuinely novel inventions. The patent is the moat — here is how a founder files it before the demo day kills novelty.
TrademarkFiling a trademark in India costs ₹4,500 and takes 48 hours of paperwork. Defending an unfiled brand in court costs ₹15 lakh and takes 18 months.
BengaluruA Bengaluru SaaS startup is a stack of intellectual property with a billing system attached. Here is how to protect every layer of it.
Trademark45 classes. One Form TM-A. ₹4,500 each. The class you skip is the channel your competitor takes. Here is the founder map.
BengaluruBengaluru founders pick a name in a brainstorm, build a landing page, then learn it is taken. The free search prevents all of it. Here is how to run it.
IP StrategyTrademark for the brand. Copyright for the work. Patent for the invention. Three rights, three statutes, three filings, one playbook.
TrademarkYour Shopify store is not your brand. Your Amazon listing is not your brand. Your brand is yours only when you file it. The D2C playbook.
BengaluruMost Bengaluru founders treat IP as a series of panics. A checklist replaces the panics with a sequence. Here is the four-stage version.
Trademark“My GST registration covers my brand name.” It doesn’t. Here is exactly what GST, incorporation, and Udyam give you — and what they don’t.
BengaluruA Bengaluru tech startup creates copyrightable work every day and registers almost none of it. Here is what to protect and why it matters at diligence.
TrademarkTwo drugs, two near-identical names, one Supreme Court judgment. The Cadila case gave India its seven-factor test for trademark similarity.
BengaluruA Bengaluru founder files the objection email under deal-with-later. That instinct abandons trademarks. Here is the 30-day playbook instead.
TrademarkA trademark is forever — in 10-year instalments. Miss the renewal and the brand you built for a decade goes back on the shelf.
Delhi NCRDelhi NCR runs fast — idea to storefront in weeks. The trademark gets pushed to later. Here is why it has to go in first.
Delhi NCRGurgaon is one of India’s densest D2C clusters. A D2C brand is visible by design — and copyable by default. Here is the trademark playbook.
Delhi NCRNoida has grown into a serious startup base — software and genuine hardware. Both share one blind spot: IP filed as a ‘later’ formality.
Delhi NCRMost Delhi NCR founders do not have an IP strategy. They have IP incidents — and each incident costs more than the plan would have.
Delhi NCRDelhi NCR has a real share of startups built on genuine invention. For them the invention is the business — and the patent is what protects it.
Delhi NCRDelhi has one of India’s deepest creator economies — and the Copyright Office sits right here. Yet most founders never register a single work.
Delhi NCRA Delhi NCR business builds a brand for a decade, then loses it to a renewal notice sent to a dead email. Here is the renewal playbook.
MumbaiMumbai builds companies at the intersection of capital and visibility. Visibility means the brand is copyable early. Here is the trademark playbook.
MumbaiA Mumbai fintech is built on a trusted brand, a proprietary codebase and customer data. Each is an IP question — and a weak IP position is a real liability.
MumbaiMumbai is the centre of India’s content economy. Every media startup runs entirely on copyright — and media is where ‘who owns this?’ gets messiest.
MumbaiMumbai’s D2C scene is fast and fashion-forward. A beautifully built brand is exactly what gets copied. Here is the trademark playbook.
MumbaiMumbai founders move fast, and IP becomes a series of panics. A checklist replaces the panics with a sequence. Here is the four-stage version.
MumbaiMumbai is known for fintech and media, where patents play a limited role. But the city builds genuine invention too. Here is when a patent is worth it.