Skip to main content

An article by Swati Sharma looking at the weight attributed by Indian courts to well-known trademarks and those imbibing trans-border reputations in determining prior users.

India is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, a nation hungry for development and opportunity. It has sound enforcement mechanisms, a progressive judiciary and a political will to do away with archaic laws. More significantly for rights holders, the Indian judicial system respects and upholds the rights of prior trademark users anywhere in the world. Some recent decisions involving the concepts of well-known marks and trans-border reputation serve to highlight the dynamism of the Indian courts.

This article was published in Managing the IP Lifecycle: India 2015/2016.

Read more

Most Recent

News & Insights

VIEW ALL
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Sep 25, 2026

India’s startup ecosystem is becoming increasingly innovation-led, and the country’s intellectual property numbers offer an interesting glimpse into

India’s IP Numbers Tell a Bigger Story  About Startup Founders in India
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Sep 21, 2026

First published by Asialaw. By: Lakshmidevi Somanath The law currently provides creators exclusive rights over their creation for a limited time, which

From Innovation Incentives to Technology Diffusion: Protecting IP Created by Agentic AI
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Sep 21, 2026

First published by Lexology. Authors: Lakshmidevi Somanath and Kanishka Vaish I. INTRODUCTION The analysis of intellectual property licensing has usually

IP Licenses in Hybrid form and Royalty Payments Post-Patent Expiration: Balancing Patent Expiration and Continuing Rights to Trade Secrets and Know-How
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Sep 20, 2026

For a startup founder, a cease and desist notice can arrive at an uncomfortable point in the life of a business: when a brand is gaining recognition, a

Is a Cease and Desist Notice Legally Binding in India: Consequences of an IP Dispute for Startups