Practice Areas
At Bharucha & Partners, we know what it takes to protect, license, and monetise your intellectual property. Our Intellectual Property Practice group is among the best in the country and is recognised for its ability to strategically fend off violations and protect creative expression. Our practice encompasses all facets of intellectual property rights, patents, trademarks, copyright, designs, and trade secrets. Our experience in copyright, trademark, and trade secrets related matters is unparalleled.
We advise and represent clients on all aspects of Intellectual Property including protection and litigation, prosecution, opposition, transaction and advisory, enforcement, and management of rights. We work with our experienced Dispute Resolution Practice group to successfully apply for urgent interim injunctions or preliminary discovery. Our significant experience in obtaining Anton Piller as well as John Doe orders from various High Courts in India has ensured that our clients can nip infringements and piracy in the bud.
With our multidisciplinary approach, our clients benefit from the expertise of all our other practice groups to receive tailor-made advice that secures their commercial interests and protects their ideas, creations, and inventions.
Our Intellectual Property Practice advises clients across sectors, ranging from automotive, electronics, FMCG, life sciences, luxury goods, media and entertainment, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals to technology.
Our lawyers have represented clients on several landmark and first-of-its-kind matters including representing leading FM radio operators concerning the fixing of a compulsory copyright license fee, a first under India’s copyright laws. We were also involved in the first-ever John Doe order being passed by the Delhi High Court in the case of a sports property owner and the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of India with respect to the liability to pay license fees for underlying musical works and lyrics.
Indicative Experience
- Representing A.R. Rahman, one of the most decorated, acclaimed, and influential composers in India and the world over, before the Delhi High Court in a suit filed against him by a Hindustani Dhrupad musician seeking inter-alia, injunction, and damages for alleged infringement of copyright in musical work.
- Representing and assisting the British Broadcasting Corporation with respect negotiation of commissioning agreement and license agreements, renewal of channel license, trade mark licence, and change of their channel logo.
- Representing leading private FM radio operators before the Copyright Board, High Courts of Delhi, Bombay, and Madras, and the Supreme Court of India in the first ever case with respect to fixing a compulsory copyright licensee fee by the Copyright Tribunal.
- Advising and representing Sony Entertainment Television Limited, SunTV Network, and Viacom 8 Media Private Limited before the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts of India with respect to distribution, piracy, content regulation and related issues, and providing on ground support with the police vis-a-vis anti-piracy raids.
- Advising Minnow Films, a UK based production house, through the pre-production, production, and post-production of several journalistic documentaries released in India and across the globe on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime and negotiating the client’s rights with the commissioning platform. The Firm has:
- Rendered advisory services relating to production of documentary series titled “Bad Boy Billionaires” including advising on licensing, assignment, and fair use of intellectual property, replying to legal notices, and representation before the Supreme Court, Telangana High Court, and district courts in Araria, Bihar and Lucknow in matters filed by the subjects of the documentary including Mehul Choksi, Subrata Roy, and Ramalinga Raju.
- Rendered advisory services relating to production of documentary series titled “Crime Stories: India Detectives”, including advising on licensing, assignment, and fair use of intellectual property, and representation before the Bangalore High Court, and district courts in Bangalore in matters filed by a subject of the documentary. The documentary series chronicles the functioning of the Bengaluru City Police as they attempt to solve 4 violent crimes.
- Rendered advisory relating to production of the documentary film titled "Mumbai Mafia: Police vs the Underworld" including but not limited to advising on licensing and assignment of intellectual property, privacy concerns and content licensing. The documentary film retraces and sheds light on the intense clashes between the Mumbai Police, Dawood Ibrahim, and other members of D-Company.
- Advising Passion Docs Limited through the pre-production, production, and post-production of their documentaries released in India and across the globe on Netflix and Amazon Prime and negotiating the client’s rights with the commissioning platform. The Firm has:
- Rendered IP advisory relating to production of documentary film titled “Caught Out: Crime, Corruption, Cricket” which depicts the Central Bureau of Investigation's inquiry into various Indian and international cricket players who were allegedly engaged in match fixing.
- Rendered IP advisory relating to production of documentary film titled “This is AP Dhillon” which follows his life from a small village in Punjab, to performing on the global stage and redefining the music industry.
- Advising BritDocs Films Limited relating to the documentary film titled “While We Watched”, which is a newsroom drama that chronicles the working days at the New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) office and follows broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates the spread of disinformation in India.
- Advising and representing Sony Pictures Network India Private Limited in various matters including inter alia:
- Advise and representation with respect to cases pertaining to patent and copyright infringement in respect to the game show, “Kaun Banega Crorepati”.
- Representation in “John Doe” proceedings initiated prior to the release of films such as “Piku”, “Youngistaan”, “Kya Kool Hai Hum”, “Darr @ the Mall”, the Indian Premier League, and India-New Zealand Cricket Series.
- Representation before the Bombay High Court with respect to the commercial suit filed by Ashiq Usman Productions and certain others for infringement of the client's copyright, trademark, and broadcasting rights in their mark 'SONY SIX' and with respect to the usage of footage from the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the movie “Argentina Fans Kattoorkadavu”.
- Representation before the Bombay High Court with respect to a suit based on allegations of copyright infringement filed against a popular Indian soap opera.
- Representation re licensing of copyrights in a movie titled “Is it a Murder?” from the alleged producers of the movie “Murder of a Journalist”.
- Advising Notice Pictures Inc., a reputed production company incorporated by the award-winning filmmaker Nisha Pahuja, the Director and Producer of various Emmy-nominated films inter-alia “The World Before Her” and “Diamond Road”, pertaining to issues of Intellectual Property Licensing, privacy concerns, potential contempt actions, and obtaining a certificate from the Central Board for exhibition of the documentary film “To Kill a Tiger” in India.
- Advising Tanvi Gandhii, a reputed executive producer and line producer in the Bollywood industry who has worked on projects such as “Vikram Vedha”, “Mardaani 2”, “Super 30”, “Udta Punjab” and “Queen”. We have been representing the client for upcoming projects, and on IP rights acquisition and transfer, negotiating the rights of the client with producers, drafting, and negotiating on the various documents in the course of production of feature films and web series such as “Laar” and “Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2”.
- Advising Abhinandan Gupta, a reputed director and writer in the Indian Film Industry who has worked projects such as “OK Jaanu” (associate director), “Padmaavat” (Associate Director), and “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” (first assistant director). We have been representing the client for his upcoming projects, and on IP rights acquisition and transfer, negotiating the rights of the client with producers, drafted, and negotiated on the various documents in the course of production of feature films and web series and advised the client through termination of agreements and buy back of IP rights.
- Advising the production house Kahaaniwaaley Media and Entertainment Ventures Private Limited and Ms. Swara Bhaskar, who has won two Screen Awards and received four Filmfare Award nominations for her supporting work in several productions, in relation to inter alia copyright protection in works, artist agreements, drafting of defamation notices, and advisory regarding various concerns that may arise from time to time in the Indian entertainment industry, preparing and filing responses to notices, and assisting the client with filing and addressing complaints.
- Advising BPL Media Limited and assisting in drafting agreements and negotiations with counterparties for content licensing and channel management for the Punjabi language general entertainment channel ‘Tabbar Hits’.
- Advising SVF Entertainment Private Limited with respect to commercial disputes, content regulation and acquisition, and licensing for their over-the-top (OTT) platform ‘HoiChoi’.
- Advising and representing the Events and Entertainment Management Association with respect to copyright issues pertaining to licensing of music as well as providing on-ground support with the police in various states where live events were hosted.
- Advising Torrent Pharmaceuticals in respect of their pharmaceutical advertisements to ensure that they are compliant at Indian law.
- Advising Reliable E-solutions Private Limited with respect to the acquisition of its application 'ROPOSO' (social entertainment application) by Glance lnMobi Pte. Limited including the underlying intellectual property in the application.
- The Firm believes in being holistic lawyers, and as such provides intellectual property advisory to many of our clients from our Investment Funds Practice, and our Mergers and Acquisitions Practice (and associated strategy). For inter alia General Atlantic, IMCD, and Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, the Firm conduced intellectual property searches and prepared brief opinions on the risks and liabilities associated with the target IP so discovered; conducted IPR Due Diligence for the targets IP; advised on enforceability of patent assignment agreements per Indian law; and assessed the IPR portfolio of targets and thereby assessed the risk matrix.
- The Firm is the only Indian Law Firm to be a member of Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) and routinely attends and advises on various regulatory and policy meetings and matters. B&P has also originated the India Regulatory Update for AVIA’s annual newsletter on IP issues. AVIA is a trade association for multichannel TV broadcast service providers across Asia and includes digital multichannel television, content, platforms, advertising, and video delivery. The membership with AVIA is B&P's effort to stay in tandem with the video industry and play an active role in law policy making and regulatory matters
- Advising Alchem International Private Limited on multiple matters on an ongoing basis, including: litigation, filing and prosecuting trademark applications in India and abroad in over 30 jurisdictions; drafting cease and desist notices and replies thereto for infringement of intellectual property and passing off of trademark and copyright; representing the client before the Trade Marks Registry, Copyright Office and the USPTO, EUIPO, and other international IP offices; advising on website compliances and drafting the client’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use setting out adequate measures for intellectual property protection; and advising Alchem with respect to their brand development and strategy.
- Advising M/S Uprising Science Private Limited who offer clean beauty products under the brand ‘Minimalist’ regarding defamatory and infringing posts by a competitor on their social media about Minimalist products and defamatory and infringing posts made by influencers on YouTube at the behest of the competitor.
- Advising Digivive Services Private Limited on a variety of agreements such as Content Licensing, Material Release Letters, Software Licensing agreements, and DRM agreements. Digivive is a leading OTT Platform, White-Label Technology, and service provider which offers video services to leading telcos, cable operators, broadcasters, educational institutions, transport operators, and media companies.
- Representing Idea Cellular Limited (now Vodafone Idea Limited) in various matters with respect to trademarks including but not limited to prosecution and opposition of trademarks.
- Advising and representing various clients before the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the National Internet Exchange of India (NIX) with respect to proceedings pertaining to the transfer of domain names.
- Advising clients like One97 Communication Limited (Paytm), Sharda Foundation Samsung India Electronics Private Limited, Flipkart India Private Limited, Flipkart Internet Private Limited, Morepen Laboratories Limited, Infotel M-Commerce LEP, CitiXsys Tech Solutions Private Limited, NexG Platforms Private Limited NexG Devices Private Limited, Surya Marketing Limited (Sprandi) and Netprophets Cyberworks Private Limited, with respect to filing trademark applications, prosecution and protecting the trademark, managing their trademark portfolio in India, and acting as their Intellectual Property Rights Counsel.
- Assisting Fitcore Tech Solutions Private Limited in assigning all Intellectual Property Rights and Domain Names held by the company to Hair Drama Fashion FZCO by originating and reviewing the necessary documentation to affect the transfer.
- Representing and assisting Homevilla Yoga Private Limited in a transaction for the transfer of Domain Names and Social Media Handles and the content therein including originating necessary documentation to affect the transfer.
- Advising Cuddles Foundation as well as Access Life Assistance Foundation, both non-profit entities that provide support to children with cancer, with respect to management of their respective intellectual property.
- Advising Happily Unmarried Marketing Private Limited, a leading provider of men’s and women’s grooming and FMCG products in India, in protecting, managing, and enforcing its IP in India; in managing their IP through multiple rounds of investment; and in respect to the celebrity endorsement agreement for the brand ‘Ustraa’.
- Assisting WeWork India Management Private Limited, a global presence engaged in the lease of commercial properties for office use, in addressing legal notices for copyright infringement.
Testimonials
Highly qualified team acting on the full range of corporate matters including M&A, foreign direct investment and joint ventures. Provides general corporate advice to major companies, financial institutions and investors on both the sale and purchase sides. Provides support to private equity and venture capital entities as well as target companies on the entire life-cycle of investment and fund issues. Handles fund formation, management buyouts, minority and controlling-stake acquisitions and a range of follow-on transactions. Notable ability in the financial services, telecommunications, logistics and energy sectors.
They are very thorough, proactive and knowledgeable.
They are a competent team, very capable.
They are customer centric and respond in detail to points raised or opinion sought. They are not ambiguous in their response.
MP Bharucha is lauded by market sources as “one of the leading lawyers in the country” who “has been on the top of his game for a long time. Active on a range of commercial disputes, he maintains a particularly high reputation as a litigator in the Mumbai market.”
Alka Bharucha “boasts a stellar reputation in corporate transactions. She is renowned for her expertise in cross-border M&A as well as her proficiency in providing advice on general corporate issues, in particular within the power, telecommunications and banking sectors.”
Hiroo Advani “is highly sought after for the breadth of his experience in arbitration issues. He often takes on cases in the energy, infrastructure and construction sectors.”
Justin M Bharucha “specialises in foreign direct investments in highly regulated sectors. He is regularly active on complex cross-border transactions, utilising his deep knowledge of inbound and outbound M&A.”
Vandana Pai “commands a strong reputation among market commentators, who praise her excellence in providing assistance with private equity transactions. Her clients are effusive with praise, with one reporting: ‘She foresees business and legal issues and is very proactive in addressing potential concerns.’
We receive top-notch partner time. They are realistic in negotiations, which results in the work being handled faster in a more congenial atmosphere.