India: Copyright

Business deals and commercial agreements form the foundation of corporate operations and growth. Whether it involves partnerships/joint ventures, vendor arrangements, investments, mergers, or service contracts...

Zee Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Nykaa for using copyrighted songs in Instagram reels without proper commercial licensing, seeking $200,000 in damages. The case highlights a critical gap in how brands use social media music libraries: while Instagram permits personal use of licensed music, commercial content requires separate synchronisation licenses that most brands fail to obtain.

Nearly three years ago, we wrote about the “hope” for GUI registration under Indian design laws, drawing upon the then-nascent jurisprudence emerging from the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in UST Global (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. vs. The Controller of Patents and Designs .

Do you remember the moment of buying your last physical book or a vinyl record or a video game cartridge? Had you entered a store and exchanged money for the item which you got home and the object belonged to you.

The Calcutta High Court has ruled that Graphic User Interfaces (GUIs) qualify as protectable designs under India's Designs Act, 2000, rejecting the Controller's narrow interpretation that excluded digital interfaces from registration. The landmark decision establishes that GUIs reflect creative aesthetic choices in visual elements like icons, menus, and color palettes that can be judged by the eye, and clarifies that the term 'article' requires broad interpretation...

The AI will produce this output based on the existing database, and it further keeps tailoring its output based on the user's requirements and personalization, i.e., the AI is trained, firstly, beforehand through a database embedded by the developer; secondly, throughout the user's requirements.

The Copyright Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") governs the protection of creative works in India and extends beyond the mere concept of copyright ownership.

Actor, public figure and politician, Shatrughan Sinha has approached the Bombay High Court seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights against unauthorized commercial exploitation of his persona.

The digital environment of India today enables intellectual property theft to occur at a faster pace than before.