Practice area
Intellectual Property
Trade marks, copyright, designs and trade secrets — protection, commercialisation and enforcement.
The Protection Framework
India's intellectual property regime is statutory and registration-led for most rights: the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the Patents Act, 1970, the Copyright Act, 1957, and the Designs Act, 2000. Registry practice has moved substantially online, and examination and opposition timelines have improved, though contested cases still take years.
Two features shape enforcement strategy in India. Passing off protects unregistered marks with goodwill, so a business that never registered is not without a remedy. And courts have historically been willing to grant interim injunctions in clear infringement cases — which means the early application often matters more than the eventual trial.
The abolition of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board moved appeals to the High Courts, and the specialist IP divisions established at some High Courts have brought more consistent handling of contested cases.
How We Support You
We handle protection from the search and filing stage through prosecution and opposition — trade mark availability searches and applications, responses to examination reports, opposition and rectification, renewals, and portfolio management across classes and jurisdictions including Madrid Protocol filings.
We also advise on commercialisation: assignment and licensing, franchising, technology transfer, brand and character merchandising, publishing and content agreements, and the IP provisions in employment and consultancy contracts that determine who owns what was created. And we act on enforcement — cease and desist, infringement and passing off suits, interim injunctions, customs recordation, and online and marketplace takedowns.
Who We Act For
Consumer brands and manufacturers, pharmaceutical and life sciences businesses, technology and software companies, media, publishing and entertainment businesses, educational institutions, and founders protecting a brand at the outset.
What We Handle
The work inside this practice. Each has its own page setting out what it covers, how it is sequenced and where it is heard.
Trade Marks
Availability and clearance searches, application filing and class selection, responses to examination reports, hearings, opposition and counter-statement, rectification and cancellation, renewals, assignment and recordal, and international filings through the Madrid Protocol.
Read moreCopyright and Content
Subsistence and ownership analysis, voluntary registration, assignment and licensing, moral rights, works made in the course of employment and commissioned works, publishing and music agreements, software licensing, and fair dealing advice.
Read moreDesigns and Patents Support
Design registration and infringement advice, patentability and freedom-to-operate coordination with technical agents, patent licensing and assignment, and advice on the patentability exclusions relevant to software and business methods.
Read moreTrade Secrets and Confidential Information
Confidentiality frameworks and NDAs, employee and contractor confidentiality obligations, technical know-how protection where patenting is not the right route, and injunctive relief where confidential information has been taken.
Read moreIP Commercialisation
Licensing and assignment structures and royalty mechanics, franchising and area development agreements, technology transfer, merchandising and character licensing, co-branding and sponsorship, and IP-related warranties in transaction documents.
Read moreEnforcement and Litigation
Cease and desist correspondence, infringement and passing off suits, interim and ex parte injunctions, John Doe and search and seizure orders, damages and accounts of profits, criminal complaints for counterfeiting, and customs recordation under the IPR enforcement rules.
Read moreOnline and Marketplace Enforcement
Marketplace and platform takedown notices, domain name disputes including INDRP and UDRP proceedings, social media impersonation, and coordinated action against repeat counterfeiters.
Read more
How the Work Is Sequenced
Indicative stages and what each produces. Timelines depend on the case. Where we can give a realistic range, the FAQs below say so.
Search and clearance
Availability search across the register and common law use before you commit to a brand or a filing. The cheapest stage at which to discover a conflict.
Filing and prosecution
Application, class strategy, and responses to examination reports and hearings. Timelines are registry-driven; we set expectations from current practice rather than the statutory ideal.
Portfolio management
Renewals, watch and monitoring services, recordal of assignments and changes, and periodic review of whether the portfolio still matches what the business actually sells.
Commercialisation
Licensing, franchising and transfer documentation, with quality control and termination provisions that keep the right protectable.
Enforcement
Graduated response — notice, platform takedown, suit and interim injunction, or criminal complaint — chosen on the infringer's profile and the commercial harm, not reflexively.
Jurisdictions, Forums and Regulators
Where cases in this practice are heard, filed or determined.
- Trade Marks Registry, Chennai and Mumbai; Copyright Office; Designs Office
- High Court of Telangana; High Court of Andhra Pradesh; High Court of Karnataka, including IP divisions
- Commercial Courts exercising IP jurisdiction
- Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and NIXI for INDRP domain disputes
- Customs authorities under the IPR (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules
- Supreme Court of India
Related Insights
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Frequently Asked Questions
General information about how this practice works. It is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer–client relationship.
How long does trade mark registration take in India?
An uncontested application commonly proceeds to registration in around twelve to eighteen months, though it varies with examination and publication timelines. An opposition adds years. Rights date from the application, and use can begin before registration — the TM symbol is available from filing.
Can we protect a brand we never registered?
Yes, through a passing off action, which protects goodwill built by actual use rather than the register. It is a harder case to run because you must prove reputation and misrepresentation, which registration would have given you as a presumption. Registration remains the cheaper route by a wide margin.
Who owns work created by an employee or a contractor?
For employees, copyright in work made in the course of employment generally vests in the employer, subject to contrary agreement and to moral rights. For independent contractors the default is much less favourable to the commissioning party — ownership often stays with the creator absent a written assignment. This is the single most common IP gap we find in diligence.
Is software patentable in India?
Computer programmes per se are excluded from patentability under Section 3(k) of the Patents Act. Inventions with a demonstrable technical effect or contribution beyond the programme itself can be patentable, and claim drafting matters greatly. In practice, copyright, trade secret protection and contractual controls do most of the protective work for software businesses.
Someone is selling counterfeits of our product online. What can be done quickly?
Marketplace takedown notices are usually the fastest route and can be effective within days. For persistent or large-scale infringement, an infringement suit with an interim injunction, and in appropriate cases a search and seizure order, carries more weight. Customs recordation helps where goods are imported.
Should we file internationally?
Only where you sell, manufacture, or credibly plan to within the priority window — rights are territorial and a broad portfolio is expensive to maintain. The Madrid Protocol makes multi-country filing from an Indian base more efficient, but it is not a substitute for deciding which markets actually matter.