Introduction Lululemon Athletica Inc. (hereafter “Lululemon”) has taken an unusual yet strategic step by registering the mark " LULULEMON DUPE " in the United States, which covers retail and advertising services related to clothes, footwear, yoga, and athletic accessories. [1] This registrational move comes at a time when “dupe culture” is a trend.   This article examines what these kinds of registrations reveal about evolving brand-protection strategies and their potential

Now algorithms can create cloned faces, identical voices, and even have capabilities of manipulating human values. Owing to Intelligent machines or Artificial Intelligence (AI), we are in an era where nothing is impossible. The bigger question, therefore, is not what AI can do, but what it should be allowed to do. Courts in India are quickly rewriting the rules of identity and authenticity; however, the sufficiency of the same remains moot.   Rethinking Identity The rise of i

Trademark law usually protects against forward confusion—where consumers mistakenly believe that a smaller player’s goods come from, or are connected to, a bigger brand. But sometimes the reverse happens: a large, well-funded company launches a product under a name already used by a smaller player. Flooded by the junior user’s massive advertising, consumers begin to associate the senior user’s goods with the larger brand. This is the essence of reverse confusion. In India, wh

The Hon’ble Supreme Court, in its recent decision in Novenco Building and Industry A/S v. Xero Energy Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd. , 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2278, has provided significant guidance on the interpretation and application of the mandatory pre-litigation mediation requirement under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (“the Act”) in the context of intellectual property disputes involving prayers for urgent interim relief. In this landmark judgment, the Hon

INTRODUCTION   India, with a population of 1.46 billion people, as of 2025, is not only one of the largest upcoming digital markets, but is also one of the most linguistically  diverse countries. The Constitution of India recognizes 22 scheduled languages as official languages; and this reflects a plural identity rooted in regional scripts and vernacular expression.   At present, the internet adoption rate of the country is growing at 6.5% yearly increase in users. It is inte

Introduction: Intellectual Property as a Strategic Asset   In the current economic landscape, intellectual property (IP) has emerged as a significant strategic asset. Trademarks serve as a powerful commercial tool, especially for companies that have built their value on consumer trust, goodwill and brand equity. As the Indian enterprise ecosystem continues to expand through diversification and multiplication of structures, separation of the legal ownership of IP from its core

Tariffs, though primarily fiscal tools for regulating imports and safeguarding domestic industries, exert profound secondary effects on brand strategy and intellectual property management. They influence how trademarks are registered, maintained, enforced and valued across borders. A change in the tariffs may affect the following: Market Integrity:  Tariff-induced price disparities often drive counterfeiting and parallel imports, eroding brand value. Portfolio Management:  Su