Intellectual Property Lifecycle Management
Introduction
Intellectual property is the principal asset of most technology and media businesses, and unlike physical assets it is commonly lost through inattention rather than through any adverse event — a name adopted before it was cleared, an assignment that was never executed, a licence whose scope does not extend to the medium in which the work is now being exploited. Our practice covers the lifecycle: clearance and creation, registration and prosecution, portfolio management, commercialisation, and enforcement. We act for start-ups, Indian corporates, and multinational enterprises across media and entertainment, gaming, software and SaaS, telecommunications, NewSpace, fintech, and consumer products.
Our Experience
Our Intellectual Property practice supports clients through the complete arc of IP creation, protection, and enforcement, spanning trademarks, copyrights, patents, and designs. This includes clearance searches, prosecution, and portfolio management; licensing and assignment; and enforcement through cease and desist notices, opposition and cancellation proceedings, anti-counterfeiting measures, and litigation before the relevant registries and courts. We conduct clearance and freedom-to-operate searches before a name, mark, or feature is committed to, and we prosecute applications for trade marks, patents, designs, and copyright registration in India and actively coordinate filings abroad through our network of foreign counsel worldwide.
Commercialisation begins with title, and in media contracts, IP assignments or commercial distribution deals, that is where most problems originate. We advise production companies / distributors on chain of title and associated due diligence as per prevailing Copyright laws, and on the flip side, we also advise authors on their personal rights, including performers' rights, moral rights and royalty entitlements as part of larger production deals. Our licensing work spans content and format rights, merchandising licences, franchising, technology and patent licensing, advising on royalties and ancilliary involvement of copyright societies, and statutory licensing for broadcasting. We also conduct IP diligence for investments and acquisitions and we support valuation exercises by identifying the legal issues that bear on what a portfolio is worth.
We enforce rights through the courts and outside them. Our work includes infringement and passing off actions, interim and dynamic injunctions and the site-blocking mechanisms developed for large-scale online piracy, John Doe orders, marketplace and platform takedowns, customs recordal against counterfeit imports, and domain name disputes under the INDRP and the UDRP. We advise on keyword advertising and metatag disputes, on trade dress and design infringement in consumer products, and on personality and publicity rights — an area moving quickly in India, and now inseparable from synthetic media, voice cloning, and the unlicensed use of likeness in generated content. In telecommunications we advise on standard essential patents and licensing on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, on both the assertion and the defence side.
Artificial intelligence has raised IP questions our clients now face routinely: whether and on what basis copyright-protected material may be used to train a model, whether an output infringes thir-party IP and who bears that risk, the authorship and inventorship of AI-assisted works and inventions under Indian law as it presently stands, and the contractual allocation of infringement risk between model developer and deployer. We advise on these alongside our privacy and product teams. Our lawyers are also seconded into client organisations to work on portfolio strategy, brand protection programmes, and enforcement on an embedded basis, which for a business filing and policing at volume is usually more effective than instructing matter by matter.
Select Mandates
Advised a leading gaming company on portfolio strategy and global trade mark registration, including enforcement against infringers in multiple jurisdictions.
Advised a SaaS start-up in patent filing and FTO analysis for innovative software solutions, enabling international product launches and investor funding.
Supported a digital media platform with copyright protection and anti-piracy measures for original content, including online takedowns and licensing arrangements.
Provided IP due diligence and valuation support for a cross-border M&A involving a satellite communications company, ensuring seamless integration of patent, trademark, and design portfolios.
Advised a fintech start-up on IP commercialisation strategies, including technology licensing agreements and joint development arrangements with overseas partners.
Conducted comprehensive IP evaluation for a high-growth personal care company in connection with an investment round, including trade mark clearance, IP protection strategy, and facilitation of registration on Amazon Brand Registry to strengthen online brand enforcement and consumer trust.
Advised a leading gaming company in preparing a comparative report on IP protection for gaming and technology companies in India against jurisdictions such as the UK, EU, US, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland, identifying gaps in the Indian regimen, recommending legislative amendments and advising on practical strategies to safeguard their IP assets in the interim.