Global IP / Cross-Border · 24 January 2026
What Global Companies Should Know About Indian IP Law
India is not a filing annex to a U.S. family. It is a jurisdiction with its own exclusions, clocks, and enforcement realities.
Global companies often arrive in India with a U.S. playbook and a local vendor. The playbook is incomplete. Section 3 of the Patents Act, working requirements, opposition culture, and the way Indian courts grant interim relief in IP cases all reward counsel who have actually practiced here — and who still know what the U.S. file looks like.
Patents are not the whole map
Trademarks, copyright in software, designs, and confidential information each have Indian-specific pressure points. A product that is ‘covered’ by a U.S. patent family can still be exposed on branding, on code, or on a disclosure that was never papered as a trade secret.
The firms that do this well treat India as a primary jurisdiction in the family, not a national-phase afterthought.