Skip to main content

Pravin Anand and Binny Kalra discuss IP’s unique developmental path in India, where courts have been under pressure by increasingly competitive industry to refine and evolve the system.

Old time practitioners of intellectual property fondly remember the classic cases that would come up before the courts; simple cases of copying where defendants would offer an undertaking and the case would settle right at the threshold. There was no question of a trial.

Today, Indian intellectual property is a unique genre. You need only look at the concept of trans-border reputation to protect well known trade marks (if only the US would protect Bkhara, Tata and other Indian trademarks in the same way). Software companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk combine in a single law suit against a common defendant and with appropriate injunctions and Anton Piller Orders, are able to settle with damages in record time of a few days due to sweeping procedural changes that have led to expedited trials and portend a future for punitive damages.

This article was published in IP Focus 2012.

Read more

Most Recent

News & Insights

VIEW ALL
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Oct 06, 2026

A D2C brand can begin with little more than a name, a logo, a product page and an Instagram account. Then something changes. Customers begin recognising

Your Brand is More Than a Name: Brand Protection for D2C Startups in India
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Oct 02, 2026

A traditional craft can travel far beyond the place that gave it its name. The harder question is whether its name, reputation and identity can travel

Who Owns a Tradition: Understanding Geographical Indications Through India’s Artisan Stories
News & Updates, Thought Leadership
•
Sep 29, 2026

A person’s identity was once understood as something inseparable from the person. In the digital economy, it can also become an asset: a name that

Right to Publicity in India: From Celebrity Image to AI-Generated Identity
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