As India’s intellectual property landscape continues to evolve rapidly, staying informed on emerging legal developments is more important than ever. This edition explores key developments across AI, patents, copyright, trademarks, pharmaceutical IP and brand protection, including AI-assisted patent examination, the copyright implications of training data, evolving tests for patentability and pharmaceutical lifecycle protection, and the emergence of motion marks.
The newsletter also examines recent court decisions offering important lessons on trademark protection, registration, brand enforcement and appellate remedies, alongside developments in music licensing and compliance.
Latest IP Insights
AI in Patent Examination: Inside India’s New Guidelines from the CGPDTM
India’s patent examination system is entering the AI era. The new CGPDTM Guidelines permit AI-assisted support for classification, prior-art searches, translation, claim analysis and other examination tasks, but firmly preserve human oversight: AI may assist the Examiner or Controller, but cannot replace their independent application of mind.
‘Can Thinking Get You a Patent?’ The Delhi High Court Frames a Seven-Step Test for Section 3(m)
The Delhi High Court has introduced a structured seven-step framework for assessing Section 3(m) objections, particularly relevant to software, telecommunications, electronics and AI-related inventions. The judgment focuses attention on what the claim, read as a whole, actually seeks to monopolise rather than simply isolating individual mental steps.
Two Frontiers of Pharmaceutical Exclusivity: What Retatrutide and Semaglutide Tell Us About Protecting a Drug Across Its Lifecycle
Retatrutide and semaglutide illustrate why pharmaceutical IP strategy increasingly needs to look beyond a single patent. The article explores how innovators can build layers of protection around a drug across its lifecycle, turning incremental innovation into a broader exclusivity strategy.
Biological Material Patents in India: Why a Pending NBA Application Should Not Mean Refusal
The article examines the intersection between patent protection for biological material and India’s biodiversity framework. It highlights why the mere pendency of an application before the National Biodiversity Authority should not automatically translate into refusal of an otherwise patentable invention.
Training Data on Trial: What ANI Media v. OpenAI Signals for Businesses Using and Building AI in India
The ANI Media v. OpenAI dispute places AI training data at the centre of India’s evolving copyright debate. The Delhi High Court’s interim-stage approach distinguishes the use of copyrighted material for training from infringement through AI outputs, making the case an important early signal for both content owners and businesses building or deploying AI systems.
Delhi High Court Cancels ZOOOK Copyright Registration Secured Through a Flawed Trade Marks Search Certificate
The ZOOOK decision highlights how an error in the supporting documentation for an IP registration can have consequences for the registration itself. The ruling serves as a reminder that accuracy in IP filings is not merely procedural; it can directly affect the strength and validity of the resulting right.
Delhi High Court Grants Ex-Parte Ad-Interim Injunction to Nintendo Co. Ltd. Against Nintendo India Private Limited
The Delhi High Court’s grant of an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of Nintendo Co. Ltd. highlights the importance of swift interim relief where valuable brand identity and goodwill are at risk. The decision demonstrates how courts can act at an early stage to prevent potentially damaging use of established marks.
Delhi High Court Cancels “Glass Skin” Trademark: Descriptive Beauty Claims Cannot Be Monopolised
Can a beauty-industry buzzword become an exclusive trademark? The Delhi High Court’s “Glass Skin” decision reinforces the limits of trademark protection for descriptive expressions, particularly where a term is used by the industry to describe a desired product or cosmetic result rather than identify a single commercial source.
Registration Is Not Immunity: The Kerala High Court’s Trade Mark Lesson in M. Manuel v. Malabar Gold
The Kerala High Court has underlined an important trademark principle: registration does not make a mark immune from challenge. The decision brings prior use, goodwill and the limits of protection for geographical and descriptive elements into sharp focus.
No Letters Patent Appeal Against Single Judge Orders Passed in Statutory Appeals Under Section 91 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999
The Gujarat High Court has held that a Letters Patent Appeal does not lie against a Single Judge’s order passed in a statutory appeal under Section 91 of the Trade Marks Act. The ruling carries important procedural implications for trademark litigants and adds to the evolving jurisprudence on appellate remedies in IP matters.
When an Order is Really a Decree: Section 131 Maintainability in the Leshark Trademark Case
The Leshark case examines whether a final order in trademark proceedings can qualify as a decree for appellate purposes. The decision highlights the importance of looking at the substance and legal effect of an order, rather than simply the form or label attached to the proceeding.
Motion Marks: Registering Movement as a Trademark in India
As brands increasingly use animation and dynamic digital identities, movement itself is becoming an interesting frontier for trademark protection. The article explores the possibility of registering motion marks in India and the challenges of establishing distinctiveness for a moving brand element.
Music Licensing in India: PPL, IPRS, Novex and What the 2025-26 Rulings Mean for Restaurants, Hotels and Venues
Recent rulings have made music licensing an increasingly important compliance issue for restaurants, hotels and other commercial venues. The article examines the roles of PPL, IPRS and Novex and explains why businesses should identify the relevant rights and licensing requirements before publicly playing music.
Latest Corporate Insights
GPF payouts above INR 5,000: Supreme Court gives primacy to a valid nomination
Provident fund savings are built over years of service and are often one of the most important amounts payable after a government employee’s death. A nomination is meant to tell the department who should receive the money without avoidable delay. should receive the money without avoidable delay. In practice, however, claims can become complicated when relatives object.
India resets its startup definition: deep tech ventures and cooperative societies enter the framework
India’s startup definition has long been tied to two basic limits: the age of the business and its annual turnover. The test was easy to apply, but it did not always reflect the reality of ventures whose growth does not follow a conventional timeline. Deep tech businesses may spend years on scientific research, product testing and technology development before earning meaningful revenue.
Khan Market’s fire NOC dispute: How the Delhi High Court balanced safety and structural limits
Behind Khan Market’s busy cafés and restaurants lies a less visible problem: many of the market’s older buildings were never designed to meet modern fire-safety standards. Several restaurants operate from the first and second floors, which are reached through narrow staircases and, in some cases, only one practical entry and exit route.
Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS): India’s next leap in electronics manufacturing
On 31 July 1995, India heard its first mobile ring, when the then Union Minister of Communications spoke from Delhi to the then Chief Minister of West Bengal in Kolkata. For most of the two decades that followed, India consumed mobile phones without making them. In 2014, the country had only two mobile phone manufacturing units and was approximately 78% import dependent, with roughly 75% of domestic demand in 2014-15 being met through imports.
DGFT operationalises the inventory-based cross-border e-commerce facilitation framework: Exporters-on-Record, Sellers-on-Record and e-commerce platforms take note
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (“DGFT”), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has issued Public Notice No. 25/2026-27 dated August 5, 2026 (the “Public Notice”) [1], notifying the operational procedures for the Inventory-Based Cross-Border E-Commerce Facilitation Framework (the “Framework”) under Chapter 9 of the Handbook of Procedures, 2023.
DGFT notifies substantive framework and definitions for inventory-based cross-border e-commerce exports
Delhi High Court on Suspension, Fact-Finding Committee and POSH Compliance
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (“DGFT”), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has issued Notification No. 27/2026-27 dated August 5, 2026 (the “Notification”), amending the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023 (“FTP”) to introduce the Inventory-based Cross-border E-Commerce Facilitation Framework (the “Framework”).
DPIIT liberalises FDI policy to permit inventory-based e-commerce exclusively for exports: The foundational change behind DGFT’s new framework
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (“DPIIT”), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has issued Press Note No. 3 (2026 Series) dated July 23, 2026 (the “Press Note”), reviewing the Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”) policy on the e-commerce sector to permit the inventory-based model of e-commerce, on a restricted basis, for exports of domestically manufactured and/or produced goods.
Latest POSH Insights
Supreme Court Approves Guidelines on Judicial Sensitivity in Sexual Offence Cases
The Supreme Court of India has approved and mandated a comprehensive handbook titled “Judgments and Gender (Sensitivity and Compassion in Writing Judgments)” for all courts, police and prosecution agencies, aimed at replacing patriarchal and stereotypical language with survivor-centric, trauma-informed practices.
POSH Proceedings and the Significance of Right to Appeal
Can compensation be enforced against an accused while his statutory appeal against the Internal Committee’s findings is still pending?”The Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a ₹35 lakh compensation order, holding that a pending appeal under Section 18 of the POSH Act must be adjudicated first.
When Marital Discord Enters the Workplace: Allahabad High Court Examines the Limits of the POSH Act
When Marital DiscordEnters the Workplace: Allahabad High Court Examines the Limits of the POSH Act
The Allahabad High Court has put this difficult question under the spotlightafter staying disciplinary proceedings against an employee following a POSH complaint filed by his wife, who worked in the same office.