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Businesses operating in India increasingly depend on personal data for customer acquisition, employee management, payments, marketing, analytics and digital services. As a result, Data Protection Laws have become an important part of corporate compliance rather than a matter limited to the information technology department.

India’s proposed Digital Competition Law has evolved through several stages, from the 2022 Parliamentary Committee report and the 2024 Committee on Digital Competition Law’s draft Bill, through a 2025 government reconsideration, to renewed Parliamentary backing for an ex-ante framework in August 2026. Drawing on comparative experience from the EU, UK, and Japan, this article argues that legislative reform must be matched by a strengthened Competition Commission of India if ex-ante regulation is to work in practice.

The commercial exploitation of fictional characters is hardly new. Recognisable characters from film and television sell everything from toys and apparel to cars and financial services. But when does borrowing a character for an advertisement cross the line from creative reference into infringement?