Celebrated couturier Rahul Mishra wants to set a precedent with an ongoing design theft case in which he won a favourable ad-interim injunction last month from the Delhi High Court.
Mishra got the ad-interim injunction, or a status-quoist stay order, against multiple parties for unauthorisedly copying and replicating his “Tigress” artistic work and floral motifs from the Sundarbans collection.
As per the Delhi High Court, these imitations not only infringe Rahul Mishra’s copyright but also “erode brand exclusivity” and “cause opportunity loss” for the more than 2,000 artisans employed in Rahul Mishra’s ateliers across India.
The infringing garments bearing the unauthorised imitations were found to be worn by celebrities such as Kapil Sharma on his comedy show available on Netflix, besides Instagram influencer Orry, and musician Badshah.
“This is not just about our brand. If India is going to become a $35 trillion economy by 2047, IP is going to play a crucial role,” said Mishra. “To see the next Louis Vuitton or the next Apple coming out of India, IP laws have to be seen in a different light like other markets. I think I will have to set aside separate legal budgets besides marketing, and more notices could be on their way. Considering how comprehensive the order is, we are not expecting a backtrack going ahead,” Mishra told ET.
With the proliferation of e-commerce, social media, stylists and multi-brand outlets, the menace of fake and duplicate creations is only intensifying for designer brands.
Designers are frequently enquiring about registering their designs under the Copyright Act, 1957, and the Designs Act, 2000, to secure protection, said Rahul Chaudhry, managing partner of law firm Rahul Chaudhry & Partners.
“We do see greater awareness among fashion designers towards protecting their brands. This awareness is driven by counterfeits, amplified by social media, influencers, trending fast fashion and online platforms, eroding brand exclusivity,” said Chaudhry. “Common questions include how to safeguard original artistic works, such as embroidery patterns or motifs, and the implications of Section 15(2) of the Copyright Act, which limits copyright protection for unregistered designs reproduced more than 50 times,” he added.
Legal experts said they also get queries on enforcing IP rights against counterfeiters, through investigations to identify infringing manufacturers, distributors and supply chain, taking down online listings of infringing products and references to the designers.
The fashion industry has witnessed significant legal action taken by designers to protect their work. These include high-profile cases, such as Tarun Tahiliani’s successful injunction for unauthorised copying of sketches that had not been reproduced beyond the 50-unit threshold.
Also, Gaurav Gupta’s 2024 injunction against trademark and design infringement (Reflect Sculpt Pvt. Ltd. v. Abdusalam), and Sabyasachi’s case (Sabyasachi Couture v. Anil Kumar Batra & ors) against Frontier Raas for replicating designs and misusing his brand name, highlight the financial and reputational damage caused by counterfeiting and copying of designs.
Priyanka Sinha, co-founder of law firm A&P Partners, said the growing awareness among Indian fashion designers about protecting their brands and designs stems from the rapid expansion of the Indian fashion industry and is influenced by global trends.
“The need for brand protection has intensified due to designers’ collaborations with multi-brand Retail Outlets in India,” said Sinha. “However, despite moderate awareness, enforcement gaps persist, as designers often prioritise business growth over proactive intellectual property strategies or allocating funds for brand protection and IP enforcement,” she added.
