Latest IP Insights
Sports Sector Gets Three-Year IP Filing Fees Waiver in Landmark Policy Move
The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, on April 28, 2026, announced that all intellectual property (IP) registrations related to sports, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, designs, traditional knowledge, and geographical indications, will be exempt from official fees for a period of three years, effective immediately. The announcement was made while addressing the World Intellectual Property Day celebrations in New Delhi, themed “IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate!”.
This development marks a significant step towards integrating intellectual property with the sports ecosystem in India. This move reflects a growing recognition that modern sports are no longer confined to on-field performance but are increasingly driven by technology, branding, design, data analytics, and innovation. By directly linking sports development with intellectual property protection, the government has signaled a clear policy intent to encourage early-stage innovation, strengthen domestic capabilities, and position India as a competitive hub for sports-related innovation and manufacturing.
Off the Field, On the Record: IP in the World of Sports
This article explores the expanding role of intellectual property in sports, from endorsements and broadcasting rights to team branding and commercial opportunities shaping the global sports industry. It reveals how IP quietly powers the multi-billion-dollar sports ecosystem. A compelling look at how legal rights drive sporting fame off the field.
Global Brands, Local Rights: The 7-Eleven Big Bite Trademark Dispute
In an increasingly globalised marketplace, trademark owners often assume that international reputation naturally translates into enforceable rights across jurisdictions. Indian trademark law, however, continues to resist such assumptions. The decision of the Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of 7‑Eleven International LLC v. Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks, is a strong reaffirmation of the principle that trademark rights are territorial in nature, and that reputation alone, divorced from domestic goodwill, may not ground protection in India.
Lost in Translation? Not Anymore, Says Delhi High Court
In a significant ruling on trademark protection, The Hon’ble Delhi High Court reaffirmed that a registered trademark can be infringed not only through identical or deceptively similar marks but also through translation of the mark into another language. On February 12, 2026, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in Victoria Foods Private Limited v. Ashad Trading Co. & Ors. [CS(COMM) 135/2026] held that the using the English translation of the mark “Rajdhani” — namely, “Capital” for similar goods and services constitutes infringement of the registered trademark “Rajdhani”, as both expressions convey an identical meaning.
Trademarks & Branding in Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
In the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, a molecule is the starting point – but a brand is the destination. From a patented active ingredient to a household name, the journey from laboratory to patient involves one of the most legally intricate and commercially significant areas of intellectual property law: pharmaceutical trademark strategy.
India stands at the heart of this story. As the world’s third-largest trademark filing jurisdiction and the supplier of 20% of global generic medicines by volume, India’s pharmaceutical sector commands both domestic and global attention. At S.S. Rana & Co., we advise innovator pharma companies, generic manufacturers, biotech startups, and multinational corporations on every aspect of pharmaceutical IP – from brand clearance to enforcement in the Supreme Court of India.
Delhi High Court Vacates Injunction, Holds “A to Z” Descriptive for Multivitamin Products
Can a pharmaceutical giant’s two-decade-old brand name ‘A TO Z’ command exclusive rights over those three terms in the multivitamin market? And what happens when a smaller competitor enters with a composite mark containing the same alphabetical endpoints, embedded within an entirely different word? The Hon’ble Delhi High Court answered both questions decisively in January 2026, while vacating an interim injunction it had granted barely a year earlier against Prevego Healthcare’s ‘MULTIVEIN AZ’ mark.
This case is a timely reminder that commercial longevity and impressive sales figures do not automatically rescue a trade mark that describes what it sells. Hon’ble Justice Tejas Karia’s ruling in the case of Alkem Laboratories Limited v. Prevego Healthcare and Research Pvt. Ltd., cuts through decades of brand investment to deliver a clear message: device mark registrations do not confer word-level monopolies and that generic terms cannot be appropriated however long they are used, and courts in equity will not assist a party that withholds material facts.
Revisiting Patent Enforcement in India: The Delhi High Court’s Judgment in CCA v. Rosenberger
In a sweeping 250-page judgment pronounced on May 08, 2026, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court upheld the validity of Indian Patent No. 240893, owned by Canadian company Communication Components Antenna Inc. (Plaintiff), for split-sector antenna technology that uses asymmetrical beams to increase subscriber capacity in cellular networks. The Court rejected every ground of revocation raised by the Defendants- including novelty, inventive step, insufficiency, and non-patentability found infringement established, and awarded damages of Rs. 152.32 Crores (approx. USD 18.28 million) computed at a 20 per cent royalty on the Defendants’ total antenna sales. The Court also issued a permanent injunction and granted a certificate of validity under Section 113 of the Patents Act, 1970.
Latest Corporate Insights
The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposed changes to section 135 of the companies act, 2013
On 23rd March 2026, the Government introduced the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 (the “Bill”) in the Lok Sabha, proposing amendments to the Companies Act, 2013 and the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. While introducing the Bill, the Finance Minister stated that it was aimed at facilitating greater ease of doing business for law-abiding corporates. On the same day, the Lok Sabha referred the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee — comprising representatives of both the Government and the Opposition from both Houses of Parliament — for further examination.
Simplifying compliance, medical device labelling is now governed exclusively by MDR
For years, the medical device industry has operated in a regulatory tug-of-war caught between the labelling requirements of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 & amendments thereof (“LM Rules”) and Medical Devices Rules, 2017 (“MD Rules”). This overlap created confusion, inconsistent enforcement, and unnecessary compliance burdens. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2025 finally break this deadlock. With a decisive and long-awaited clarification, the Government of India has explicitly carved out medical devices from the scope of LM Rules and brought them entirely under the ambit of the MD Rules. This single amendment resets the compliance landscape and brings long-needed certainty for manufacturers, importers and regulators alike.
LMPC rules amended, new compliance for e-commerce
The legal metrology framework in India has steadily evolved over the years to keep pace with the changing dynamics of trade and commerce. From ensuring accurate weights and measures to mandating transparent labelling on packaged goods, the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 and amendments thereof (LMPC Rules) have served as a foundational instrument in protecting consumer interests across both physical and digital marketplaces.
In recent years, the rapid expansion of e-commerce in India has brought with it a fresh set of regulatory considerations. As online shopping becomes the preferred mode of purchase for a growing section of the population, questions around product transparency, origin disclosure, and informed consumer choice have gained increasing prominence in policy discussions. The Department of Consumer Affairs has, over time, responded to these developments through a series of targeted amendments to the LMPC Rules each aimed at strengthening the accountability of sellers and platforms operating in the digital space.
TRAI’s crackdown on spam calls and AI-driven telemarketing
Unsolicited commercial communications—commonly experienced as spam calls and messages—have long undermined consumer trust in India’s telecom ecosystem. Despite years of regulation, the problem has intensified with the emergence of AI-enabled calling technologies, including robo-calls, automated diallers and voice-cloning tools that allow impersonation at scale. India ranks among the world’s spam hotspots, with consumers losing ₹36.45 lakh to fraud in just one year.
According to the 2025 India Insights Report, Indian mobile users received a staggering 4,168 crore spam calls over the past year, highlighting the growing scale of digital fraud and communication risks across the country. In response, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (hereinafter referred to as the “TRAI”) has significantly strengthened its regulatory framework through recent amendments and proposals awaiting approval. These measures mark a decisive shift from complaint-driven regulation to preventive, technology-led enforcement.
Latest POSH Insights
The Transgender Amendment Bill 2026-Implications and Concerns
The Parliament on March 25, 2026 passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 (hereinafter referred to as “the Bill”) with the Lok Sabha approving it with a voice vote amid an Opposition walkout.The Bill, now a statutory Act, seeks to redefine the category of transgender, removes the provision of self-perceived gender identity and excludes several socio-cultural identities as well as trans-masculine individuals from its ambit.
MWCD Notification on SHe-Box Portal
Creating safe and respectful workplaces for women is essential for ensuring equality, dignity and participation in the workforce. To support this goal and strengthen the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act), the Government of India has embraced digital solutions.
In this context, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) issued a notification in April 2026 highlighting the progress and impact of the Sexual Harassment Electronic Box (SHe‑Box) Portal, a digital platform designed to improve access, monitoring and compliance under the POSH Act across the country.
What the Nashik Workplace Harassment Case Reveals?
A sexual harassment and workplace coercion case at a prominent multinational information technology office in Nashik has sent shockwaves through India’s IT sector. What began as individual complaints has now escalated into a multi‑agency investigation involving multiple FIRs, arrests, suspensions, and a high‑level internal probe. At the heart of it all lies a critical question: did the system designed to protect employees actually work?
ICs cannotshield Identified Instigators by terming them ‘unknown’
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”) was enacted in India to protect women from sexual harassment at the workplace and to ensure a safe and dignified working environment. The law is clearly women‑oriented and aims to promote confidence, security, and equality for women in professional spaces.
At the same time, the POSH Act is not meant to be used as a tool for victimising innocent employees. Keeping this in mind, the legislature included Section 14, which allows action to be taken against a complainant or witness if a complaint is found to be false or malicious, subject to proper inquiry. This shows that while the Act strongly protects women, it also recognises the need to prevent misuse.