Design

Announcing the 2026 Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on Intellectual Property Law

/ By / Biological Diversity, Copyright, Data Exclusivity, Design, Geographical Indication, Innovation, Opportunities, Patent, Trademark

Celebrating the 50th birth anniversary of Prof. Basheer, earlier this year, we had promised to return with the 2026 edition of the Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on Intellectual Property Law. And we are now delighted to announce the launch of this year’s competition! A master with the pen, Prof. Basheer continues to inspire us with his ability to make complex legal ideas accessible to a wider audience. Our long-time readers, and the many others who have engaged with his work,

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Can an Animation Be a Design? Examining India’s Draft GUI and Icon Design Guidelines, 2026

/ By / Design

The Indian Designs Office’s draft GUI Guidelines mark an important step following the Calcutta High Court’s decision in NEC Corporation v. Controller of Patents on the registrability of GUIs. Harshita Bhola writes on the Guidelines, noting that while they are a welcome improvement that could bring greater consistency and predictability to examination practices, the proposed requirement to submit separate representations of individual frames risks overlooking the creative contribution underlying an animation. Harshita Bhola is a 7th-semester B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) student

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (October 19-October 25)

/ By / Copyright, Design, Patent, Trademark

A quick tidbit on the free online version of Feroz Ali’s treatise on patent law, interesting orders from various High Courts, and exciting national and international IP developments in this week’s SpicyIP Weekly Review. Anything we’ve missed? Drop a comment and let us know! Highlights of the Week SpicyIP Tidbit: Ali on Patents – A Treatise Built for Reading, Citing and Keeping Up Patent research often means working through lengthy judgments to find the reasoning that matters. Prof. Feroz Ali’s

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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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Copyright Enforcement in the Gaming Industry: Key Takeaways from the University of Geneva’s 2026 IP Conference from an Indian Observer’s Perspective

/ By / Copyright, Design, Overlaps in IP, Trademark

As the global gaming industry evolves far beyond entertainment into a sophisticated IP ecosystem built on software, art, music, branding, and competitive digital economies, conversations on questions of classification, cloning, and enforcement are becoming increasingly relevant. Reflecting on his experience attending the University of Geneva’s 2026 IP conference, Dhritiraj Paul Choudhary explains how jurisdictions across the world are actively rethinking copyright enforcement and classification in response to the commercial and technological realities of modern gaming, while Indian copyright jurisprudence has

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After Crocs, After Carlsberg: Does Harpic v. Spic Finally Clear the Air?

/ By / Design, Trademark

Can trademark law be used to reclaim what design law has deliberately released into the public domain? Khushi Krishania writes on the Calcutta High Court’s recent Division Bench decision in the Harpic v. Spic dispute, explaining how it revisits this uneasy intersection, but ultimately leaves its most difficult questions unresolved.  Khushi is a third-year B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) {Cybersecurity} student at the National Law Institute University, Bhopal, with a particular interest in the intersection of copyright and data protection law. After Crocs,

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 30 – April 5)

/ By / Copyright, Design, Others, Patent, Trademark

Beginning April with a rundown of the major IP developments in 2025 on SpicyIP TV! Post on two recent Delhi High Court decisions in Geron and Hirotsu clarifying the boundaries of diagnostic methods exclusion. And another post on the UK Supreme Court’s decision in Emotional Perception AI Limited v Comptroller General of Patents marking a doctrinal shift in how subject-matter eligibility questions regarding computer programmes are evaluated. Case summaries and IP developments from the country and the globe and much

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The GUI Verdict: A Celebration of Progress, or a Lament for Leadership?

/ By / Design

The Calcutta High Court’s decision in NEC Corporation marks a significant step forward for GUI design protection in India. However, beyond the celebration surrounding this development, Sachin Sharma points out that a more uncomfortable question remains—why did it take judicial intervention for this shift to occur at all? Sachin is an Associate Advocate at Sanghi & Co. An alumnus of NLU Delhi (LLM in IPR Law and Management), he is currently advancing his technical acumen through a BSc in Biotechnology.

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SpicyIP Weekly Review (March 23 – March 29)

/ By / Copyright, Design, Others, Patent, Trademark

Almost at the end of March with a post on the wonder drug Semaglutide’s patent expiry and its impact in India. Post on the Calcutta HC’s judgment removing subject-matter objections to the registration of GUIs as a design under the Designs Act. Another post on the government-led blocking of 3100+ Telegram channels marking a significant shift in India’s intermediary liability regime and censorship architecture. Case summaries and IP developments from the country and the globe and much more in this

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GUIs Join the Design Club!

/ By / Design

Disclaimer: Used Claude AI to make stylistic changes to the post. Any mistakes made are all mine alone. Calcutta High Court’s recent decision in  NEC Corporation v. Controller (NEC Corp) opens up the option of design protection for Graphic User Interface (GUI) dismissing for the second time the subject matter objections raised by the IPO. The decision to expand design protection to GUIs, as we will see, creates doctrinal inconsistency, as the Delhi HC in two decisions (Hulm Entertainment and

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