Intellectual property filings in India continue to soar, accounting for the sixth-largest number of patent applications globally.

A November report from the World Intellectual Property Organization reports that the number of patent applications filed in India increased by 25.2 percent over 2021 totals. Offices located in Asia received about 68 percent of all patent applications filed worldwide in 2022.

“The rise in patent applications in India demonstrates the rising innovative zeal of our youth and is a very positive sign for the times to come,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after WIPO released its World Intellectual Property Indicators 2023 report, which reports on 2022 activity.

India trails only China, which receives by far the largest number of patent applications globally, the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union.

“Innovators around the world submitted nearly 3.5 million patent applications [in 2022] – a record high. What is notable is the broad geographical base of this growth,” said Daren Tang, director general of WIPO. “Among the top five offices, patent applications at both the IP office of China and the European Patent Office outstripped the global average, with the U.S. returning to growth for the first time since the pandemic. Broaden the lens to the top 20 offices, and we see double-digit increases at the offices of South Africa, India, and Indonesia. For India, this is the sixth year of growth in a row, with patent filings surging by a quarter last year in 2022, the fastest increase since 2005.”

This is the 11th consecutive year of increase in patent applications by Indians. applications by Indians. “Patent applications by residents of India grew by 31.6% in 2022, extending an 11-year run of growth unmatched by any other country among the top 10 filers,” WIPO noted in its annual World Intellectual Property Indicators report.

“Developing countries are increasingly engines of IP, showing the greatest growth rates as they harness the innovation and creative potential of their people,” said WIPO Director General Daren Tang in a statement. Tang noted concerns over economic uncertainty and the drop in funding that could hurt innovation.

“Uncertainty continues to weigh on the global innovation ecosystem, with venture capital funding dropping in many parts of the world. We urge investors to pursue quality, but not at the expense of supporting good ideas that can change the world for the better,” he said.

India performed well in trademark application statistics, as well. While many countries experienced a drop in trademark filings in 2022, India had a modest (2.4 percent) gain over 2021, while other countries had significant declines, including China (-20.5 percent), the United Kingdom (-21.5 percent), Iran (-30.6 percent) and the United States (-14.7 percent).

As India’s participation in international patent, trademark and, indeed, other forms of intellectual property, increases at a strong rate, it is no surprise that we have seen a commensurate increase in top-flight IP work being done there. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. From their answers, we have compiled our list of India’s 100 IP Experts, those lawyers who understand just what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.

Top-notch individuals have long been easy to come by in Delhi and the National Capital Region as well as in Mumbai and nearby Pune, but are increasingly easy to find in other regions of the country, as well. While a few large, traditional firms continue to place multiple lawyers on our list, they are increasingly challenged by smaller upstarts, which are often formed by alumni of the older firms, blending the traditions of those firms with a fresher outlook and a, perhaps, more innovative, nimble approach.

It comes as no surprise that NCR-based Anand and Anand and Remfry & Sagar collectively accounted for more than 10 percent of the list. Top-ranked IP lawyers Pravin Anand, Safir Anand, Dhruv Anand, Vaishali Mittal, Archana Shankar and Neeti Wilson at Anand and Anand and Ashwin Julka, C.A. Brijesh, Devika Mehra, Pankaj Soni, Ranjna Mehta-Dutt, Samta Mehra and Surendra Sharma at Remfry & Sagar.

Saikrishna & Associates had five lawyers named to the list: Ameet Datta, Garima Sahney, Monica Datta, Saikrishna Rajagopal and Sidharth Chopra.

Two firms placed four individuals on our list: Lall & Sethi (Raghav Malik, Tia Malik, Anju Khanna and Jyotideep Kaur) and Singh & Singh (Bitika Sharma, Saya Choudhary, Sudeep Chatterjee and Tejveer Singh Bhatia).

Six firms placed three lawyers on the list: Chadha & Chadha (Chetan Chadha, Gopal Trivedi and Tarun Gandhi); K&S Partners (Deepa Kachroo Tiku, Latha Nair and Rajendra Kumar); LexOrbis (Manisha Singh, Abhai Pandey and Rajeev Kumar); R.K. Dewan & Co. (Mohan Dewan, Nishi Dewan and Disha Dewan); RNA, Technology and IP Attorneys (Ranjan Narula, Shabnam Khan and Rachna Bakhru); and Y.J. Trivedi & Co. (Y.J. Trivedi, Gopi Trivedi and Jatin Trivedi).

No other firm placed more than two lawyers on the list, tallying up an impressive total of 59 different law firms represented on our list, demonstrating clearly that while the largest firms might still remain in the lead, that lead may not be as large as they think it is. The upstarts are hot on their heels.

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s India’s IP Experts. – GREGORY GLASS

India’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to in-house counsel in India, Asia and elsewhere around the world, as well as India-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has more than 45 years of collective experience in researching and understanding India’s legal market.

All private-practice intellectual property lawyers in India were eligible for inclusion in the nominations process; there were no fees or any other requirements for inclusion in the process.

The names of our 100 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.