A Personality Too Spiritual for Satire?

/ By / Copyright, Others, Overlaps in IP, Privacy, Trademark

I had underestimated how much of the personality rights space in India is one big, vague, wild west! The personality rights order passed by the Delhi High Court in favour of the plaintiff, Anil Kumar Tiwari (aka Aniruddhacharya Ji Maharaj) shows what happens when an already confusing jurisprudence continues to develop without guardrails: IP law protections are claimed for ineligible content; social commentary based on meme-culture collides with ambiguous private rights; and, doctrinal confusion continues to blur the scope of […]

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Ready, Set, Enclose? India’s Sports-IP Waiver and the Problem of Turning Play into Property

/ By / Overlaps in IP

The Government’s new fee waiver for “sports-related” IP registrations appears, at first glance, to be straightforward. But beneath the news lies a deeper question: what exactly is “Sports IP,” and what kinds of ownership, exclusivity, and control is the State choosing to subsidise through this policy? Aryan Agrawal argues that the waiver is significant not just as an innovation measure but as part of a broader movement toward the enclosure of sporting culture, fandom, and access. Aryan is a final-year

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From Blueprints to Bistro: Rethinking Culinary Creativity After Cryogas

/ By / Copyright, Design, Overlaps in IP

What happens when creativity is both functional and aesthetic at the same time? The Supreme Court’s decision in Cryogas Equipment Pvt. Ltd. v. Inox India Ltd., though rooted in industrial design law, raises a larger question about forms of expression that do not fit neatly within existing IP categories. Nidhi Jaiswal uses culinary plating as a lens to explore how copyright and design law may leave certain kinds of creative labour structurally under-protected. Nidhi is an LL.M. candidate at Rajiv

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Can the Indian Copyright Act Accommodate Fully Autonomous AI Generated Output?

/ By / Copyright

As the Delhi High Court directs the Registrar of Copyright to consider Stephen Thaler’s bid to register a fully AI-generated artwork under Indian copyright law, a deeper question emerges: was the Copyright Act ever designed to recognise non-human authorship at all? In light of this development, Rashi Singhal argues that the architecture, rationale, and core provisions of the Act remain fundamentally human-centric, making fully autonomous AI authorship difficult to accommodate within the existing framework. Rashi is a Graduate Research Fellow at

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (May 11 – May 17)

/ By / Others

With great sorrow we share the news of the passing of Mr. Nataraj G, founder of LCGN Advocates – a post on his life and work. Marking Prof. Shamnad Basheer’s 50th birthday, a post revisiting his last recorded interview and also announcing three new initiatives! A post on the continuing Section 3(k) saga, Yogesh Byadwal writes on the frameworks within which the Courts are working while deciding objections u/s. 3(k). Case summaries and IP developments from the country and the

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Breaking: Breakthrough for India’s SEP Jurisprudence in new Philips v. Rajesh Bansal ruling!

/ By / Patent

DVDs are long gone from our markets, yet their SEPs continue to be on pause, play, rewind! A momentous decision has been delivered by the Delhi High Court today – a big, refreshing and important update for the developing standard essential patent (SEP) jurisprudence. The division bench decision comes from Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla and is a turning point in the decade long SEP litigation between Philips and Rajesh Bansal. The case was among the initial SEP

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SpicyIP Bells & Whistles: IP Events and Opportunities (18.05.2026)

/ By / Courses & Workshops, Opportunities

Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles. As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting. Bell of the Week: Collective Trademarks Some bells do not just chime, they remind us that value is not always created alone. This week’s bell is for Collective Trademarks, a form of trademark that shifts the conversation from individual ownership to shared

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Remembering Mr. Guruswamy “Nutty” Nataraj (1970-2026)

/ By / Others

[This post is co-authored by Swaraj and Praharsh] It’s with great sorrow that we share the news that the Indian IP fraternity lost one of its brightest stars yesterday. Mr. Guruswamy Nataraj, founder of LCGN Advocates and alumnus of NLSIU (1988-1993), renowned for his formidable patent law practice, sharp wit, infectious smile, and warm sense of humour, passed away following a heart attack, after a courageous battle with cancer over the last few months.  Mr. Nataraj (affectionately called “Nutty” by

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Keep the ‘Technical’, Let’s Bring Consistency in 3(k)

/ By / Patent

Section 3(k) is one of the most curious provisions in the Indian Patents Act. A mere 13-word sub-section, 3(k) has today become a hot mess. Despite the release of CRI Guidelines in July 2025 (the fourth such iteration of the guidelines), 3(k) is none the fuzzier.  The actual scope of the words used in 3(k) continues to elude us.  Last week, the Delhi HC, in Blackberry v. Controller, had another opportunity to opine on patentability u/s. 3(k). The invention in question was a method to

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Zee v Nykaa: The $210,000 Worth Instagram Reels

/ By / Copyright

Zee Entertainment (“Zee”) approached the Delhi High Court to seek damages amounting INR 2 crores (approximately $210,000) from Nykaa for allegedly using copyrighted songs in their 12 Instagram reels (short form videos). But this is not a standalone tale of a music rights holder suing a brand for unlicensed use of its tracks in social media marketing – it is the familiar storyline across the globe – whether it be the Warner Music Group suing Iconic London Ltd. (USA) or Sony

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