India: Advertising, Marketing & Branding

For years, businesses have watched competitors surface on the search results page the instant a customer types their brand name. The technique is simple: buy the rival’s brand as a paid-search keyword, and your sponsored link appears alongside, or above, the results the customer was actually looking for. In Hindware Ltd. v. Grohe India Pvt. Ltd. and the connected matter against Omkara Infoweb, the Delhi High Court confronted the practice directly, and held that selling a registered trademark as an advertising keyword is itself an infringing use in advertising. Just as importantly, it held that the advertising platform cannot run the keyword auction, and keep the revenue, and then disclaim responsibility as a mere intermediary.

On June 18, 2026, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued an stating that if a brand’s product label, website, or advertising uses the term ‘100%’ in any claim about composition, ingredients, or naturalness, then that claim must be literally and verifiably true.

India's Supreme Court has issued a sharp rebuke to alcohol manufacturers selling vodka and other spirits in packaging designed to mimic children's fruit juice boxes.