Consumer, Retail & Brands

FMCG, fashion, beauty, food and beverage, D2C and e-commerce brands, franchising, crafts and geographical indications.

For consumer businesses, the trade mark portfolio, the look of the packaging and the product designs carry most of the value, and they are the first things counterfeiters copy. India’s marketplaces, social commerce and wholesale markets move fast, so protection has to be in place before launch and enforcement has to be quick.

Where IP creates value

• Trade marks and trade dress, registered in the right classes and recorded with Customs.
• Designs for products and packaging, filed before they are shown.
• Franchising and brand licensing, with quality control that keeps a licensee’s use counting as the owner’s use.
• Geographical indications for crafts, textiles and foods, from Jaipur’s blue pottery to Darjeeling tea, which add value producers can capture.
• Influencer and celebrity partnerships, including personality rights.

Regulation to build around

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and its e-commerce rules, the CCPA’s guidelines on misleading advertisements, endorsements and dark patterns, and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules for labelling.