Your brand is probably your most valuable asset, and the least checked

• Trademarks in India are governed by the Trade Marks Act, 1999, with the register maintained by the Registrar of Trade Marks
• A registered trademark allows the owner to bring an infringement action; an unregistered mark is not entirely unprotected, since the law of passing off may help where there is goodwill, but it is generally harder to rely on
• A registration is generally valid for ten years and can be renewed for further ten-year periods
• A mark is registered for particular goods or services, so the scope of protection depends on what was applied for
• Using the registered symbol for a mark that is not registered can be an offence under the Act

Hypothetical example: a small food brand builds a following under a name for three years, then learns a larger business in another city registered a similar mark for the same goods. A made-up case showing why searching and registering early matters.

• Search the trade marks register and the market for similar names in your field
• Check domain names and social handles, but know that owning a domain does not give trademark rights
• A name accepted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for a company or LLP does not give trademark rights, and does not by itself protect against someone else's trademark
• Avoid names that are only descriptive of your product
• Keep dated records of when you first used the name

• Copyright arises when an original work is created; registering is optional rather than a condition for protection
• It covers literary, artistic and similar works such as website text, photographs, drawings, brochures and software code, and it protects the expression, not an idea
• For literary and artistic works, the term is generally the author's lifetime plus sixty years, so a business should assume its content lasts for a long time
• The author is generally the first owner, but the Act gives different results for some situations, such as a work made in the course of employment under a contract of service, where the employer is generally the first owner in the absence of agreement to the contrary
• Work by a freelancer or an agency is a case to check; do not assume that paying for it transfers the rights

• An assignment of copyright is valid only if it is in writing and signed by the person assigning it
• It should identify the work, the rights assigned, the duration and the territory
• If the duration is not stated, the Act treats it as five years; if the territory is not stated, it is presumed to be India
• Why a logo, website, app, photographs and written content from an outside creator need a written assignment or licence
• Keeping the signed copies together, and in the business's name

Check the current provisions and how they apply to your arrangement with a lawyer.

• The Designs Act, 2000 protects features of shape, pattern, ornament or composition applied to an article, judged by the eye
• A design must be new: the Act does not allow registration of a design already disclosed to the public anywhere in the world
• A registered design is protected for ten years, which can be extended by a further five years
• Why showing or selling a design widely before applying can cause a problem

• Patents are governed by the Patents Act, 1970; the term of a patent is twenty years from the date of filing the application
• Not every idea or product can be patented; this is a question for a patent attorney, before any public disclosure
• Confidential information such as customer lists, pricing and processes is largely protected through confidentiality terms and how carefully it is handled
• Written confidentiality agreements with employees, contractors and partners, and limits on who can see what

Ask a specialist before disclosing an invention publicly.

• A list of names, logos, domains, social accounts, software, content and designs, with who made each and who owns it
• Employment terms that deal with IP created in the course of work
• Vendor and freelancer agreements that deal with who owns what is delivered
• Founders' agreements that assign what each founder built to the business
• What a future investor or buyer will want to see