Belagavi Court Refuses Ex Parte Injunction Against US AI Company Anthropic In Trademark Dispute

A Commercial Court in Belagavi, Karnataka has refused to grant an ex parte interim injunction to an Indian company in a trademark dispute over the mark “Anthropic” against a US AI company Anthropic PBC.

The court held that there is no “imminent threat” of infringement at this stage. 

The court, however, issued summons to the San Francisco-based defendant and directed that emergent notice be sent in accordance with the applicable guidelines

The suit was filed by Anthropic Softwares Private Limited, which holds the registered trademark “Anthropic”. It approached the court with an apprehension of passing off and trademark violation by a San Francisco-based company.

The plaintiff sought an order restraining the defendant “from directly or indirectly passing themselves off as associated with the plaintiffs, by using deceptively similar trade mark 'Anthropic' or any other mark identical or deceptively similar to the plaintiff's registered trade mark.”

The apprehension was based on a newspaper publication dated October 9 stating that the American company was opening its first office in India and a website publication announcing its global operation in India by opening an office in Bengaluru in early 2026.

After examining the material placed on record, Principal District & Sessions Judge Manjunath Nayak observed that apart from these two publications, “there are no other materials to show that the defendants are intending to start their operation in India by using the registered trade mark of the plaintiff.”

The court also noted that the defendant's address is shown as “San Francisco US in the cause title of the plaint, which indicate that the defendants have not yet started their establishment or opened their office in India.”

“In order to grant an exparte order of temporary injunction, by dispensing with notice to the defendant, there should be imminent threat of infringement or violation. In this case, at this stage I have not found any such imminent threat in order to grant an exparte order of temporary injunction, without issuing notice to the defendant and without hearing the defendant,” the court held.

The court permitted the Indian company to file the suit by dispensing with pre-institution mediation, keeping open all the objections of the defendant, and directing that notice be issued. The matter is returnable on February 16, 2026.