India does not have “fair use” — it has “fair dealing” under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957, and the difference is legally critical. Section 52 lists specific, closed categories of permitted uses. If your use is not in that list, it is not protected. This guide explains every permitted category, two landmark Indian cases, and exactly what content creators and businesses need to know.
Trademark infringement in India is governed by Section 29 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, and decided by courts applying the deceptive similarity test established in Cadila Healthcare v. Cadila Pharmaceuticals (SC, 2001). This guide covers the legal test, five landmark decisions, where to file your suit under Section 134, the remedies available under Section 135, and the practical steps every brand owner needs to know.
A provisional patent application under Section 9 of the Patents Act, 1970 secures your priority date immediately — at a fraction of the cost of a complete application. This guide covers the exact filing procedure, current fees, the critical 12-month deadline, and the five mistakes that cause Indian inventors to lose their priority rights.
A Chennai-based digital marketing agency received an automated email in October 2023 from a German stock photography company. The email contained a copyright infringement claim,
A 125-year-old halwa shop in Tirunelveli fought a trademark battle all the way to the Supreme Court of India — and won. The case of S. Syed Mohideen v. P. Sulochana Bai teaches five principles that every Indian MSME brand owner needs to understand about prior use, passing off, and trademark registration.
Every Indian brand that manufactures in China or sells online faces a version of the same threat — a Chinese seller copies your product, registers your brand name as a Chinese trademark before you do, and undercuts your price on every platform simultaneously. This guide covers four Indian legal tools that address this threat — without needing to walk into a Chinese courtroom.
Most Indian authors believe one of five myths about book copyright: automatic protection is enough, the publisher will handle it, nobody will steal their work, registration is too expensive, or their copyright only works in India. All five are wrong — and this guide explains exactly why, with the Copyright Act, 1957 provisions that matter most to authors.
When Bigil released in 2019, Indian film copyright was about music rights and piracy. By 2025, Indian courts were issuing 72-hour takedown orders against AI-generated deepfakes and voice clones of living celebrities. This guide explains four dimensions of Indian entertainment copyright that every creator, producer, and fan needs to understand in 2026
When a larger company sends your Indian MSME a trademark cease-and-desist letter, compliance is not your only option. This guide explains Section 142 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 — India’s statutory anti-bullying mechanism — alongside three Supreme Court and High Court precedents that prove small businesses can and do win.
India crossed 89,000 patent applications in FY2024 — a record. But most inventors lose IP value between filing and maintenance by missing critical deadlines. This guide covers every stage of the Indian patent lifecycle: patentability, filing, examination, grant, opposition, annual renewal, and the Form 27 working statement obligation.
