Intellectual Property Law and Copyright Laws

The dispute had its origins in 2014, when Vodafone signed agreements with Saregama to use songs for its caller tune and ringtone value-added services (VAS). IPRS maintained that while music labels own the copyright in sound recordings, lyricists and composers retain separate rights in the underlying literary and musical works.

Artificial Intelligence’s great advance, deepfake technology, and digital content creation has very much transformed the online environment. Though these new technologies bring out many benefits...

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.

The dispute had its origins in 2014, when Vodafone signed agreements with Saregama to use songs for its caller tune and ringtone value-added services (VAS). IPRS maintained that while music labels own the copyright in sound recordings, lyricists and composers retain separate rights in the underlying literary and musical works.

The global intellectual property landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation as traditional enforcement mechanisms prove inadequate against the speed and scale of digital infringement.

Cosplay, short for ‘costume play’, refers to people dressing up in costumes portraying characters of anime, manga, video games, films, or comic books. A hobby confined to conventions is now worth multi-billion dollars in terms of revenue being generated by way of selling the costumes, social media monetization, and cosplay contests during the conventions, and professionally performing the character impersonations.

The protection of trade secrets, which contain proprietary business data that provides competitive advantages through its formulas, processes and design specifications, needs to be maintained because its disclosure threatens cybersecurity systems with both financial losses and reputational harm.

Most enterprises entering India through a BOT structure spend weeks negotiating hiring plans, transition timelines, pricing models, and operational governance. Then the agreement gets signed, the build phase begins, and business heads assume the difficult part is over.

In the matter of Bayer Cropscience Limited v Harlal Seeds Private Limited, I.A. No. 222 of 2025 and I.A. No. 225 of 2025 in COS No. 13 of 2025, the Principal Special Court in the Cadre of District Judge for Trial and Disposal of Commercial Disputes at Hyderabad passed two orders dated 11 February 2026:

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.

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.

We are pleased to announce that S. S. Rana & Co. successfully represented the Respondent, R. H. Agro Overseas, before the Division Bench of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in a trademark appeal raising a short yet significant question of procedural law.