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Intellectual Property Rights Weekly Round-Up: January 12-18, 2026
NOMINAL INDEXMankind Pharma Limited v. The Registrar Of Trade Marks, 2026 LLBiz HC (DEL) 34Mayank Jain, Proprietor Of Mahaveer Udyog v. M/S Atulya Discs Pvt. Ltd. & Ors, 2026 LLBiz HC (DEL) 35Zydus Lifesciences Limited v. E.R. Squibb And Sons, LLC & Ors., 2026 LLBiz HC (DEL) 37Colgate Palmolive Company & Anr v. Dabur India Ltd., 2026 LLBiz HC (DEL) 38People Interactive India Private Limited v. Ammanamanchi Lalitha Rani & Ors., 2026 LLBiz HC (BOM) 25Nouveau Medicament Private...
Directors Not Criminally Liable For Company's Contractual Breach Without Proof Of Fraud: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has said that a company's inability to pay its dues because of financial distress is a civil issue, not a criminal offense. A director cannot be prosecuted for cheating unless there is clear proof of personal fraud or personal gain. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna quashed cheating charges against a former managing director of Creative Wares Limited, a manufacturing company that later ran into financial trouble and was declared a sick industrial company by the BIFR. The court...
Minimum Penalty Under SEBI Act Can Be Reduced In Appropriate Cases: SAT Majority
The Securities Appellate Tribunal at Mumbai has, by a 2:1 majority, held that penalties imposed under the SEBI Act can be reduced below the statutory minimum in appropriate cases after considering mitigating factors.Setting out its reasoning upfront, the majority said that the scheme of the Act itself allows such flexibility. “In our considered opinion, the provisions of section 15J come to the rescue in appropriate cases and, in our interpretation, have the power to reduce the penalty below...
What Is MF-Lite? SEBI Introduces New Mutual Fund Category Under 2026 Regulations
In a sweeping overhaul of the mutual fund regulatory regime, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has notified the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026, which introduces Mutual Fund-Lite (MF-Lite) as a separate category of mutual funds. Notified on 14 January, the regulations have repealed the nearly three-decade-old SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 and are scheduled to come into force with effect from 1 April 2026. Under the new regime,...
Karnataka High Court Refuses Daughter's Plea For Parents' Interim Bail In GST Evasion Case
The Karnataka High Court has declined to grant interim bail to a husband and wife arrested in a GST enforcement action, holding that the case did not present circumstances warranting the court's intervention at the writ stage. A Single Judge Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna, in an order pronounced on January 12, noted that the court did not find any illegality in the manner of arrest and that statutory remedies for seeking bail were already available under criminal law. “Therefore, the facts in...
Kopiko Is Sugar Confectionery, Not Coffee-Based Product; 6%, Not 12%, Excise Duty Applies: CESTAT Hyderabad
The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Hyderabad, answering a reference made after conflicting rulings by its Hyderabad and Ahmedabad benches, has held that Kopiko, the coffee-flavored candy sold in India, is classifiable as sugar confectionery under the central excise tariff and not as a coffee-based preparation. As a result, the product falls under tariff heading 1704 9090, which attracts 6% excise duty, and not under heading 2101 1200, which carries a 12% duty. The...
No Profiteering Where Builder Absorbs Differential GST Burden: GSTAT
The Principal Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), New Delhi, held that anti-profiteering proceedings cannot be sustained in the absence of evidence showing that GST benefits were withheld from homebuyers, and accordingly closed two separate complaints against real estate developers—Raja Housing and Legacy Global. Both matters were heard together by a Bench presided over by Justice (Retd.) Dr. Sanjaya Kumar Mishra. In both cases, the Director General of...
Gauhati High Court Stays GST Demand On Flats Given For Free To Landowners
The Gauhati High Court on 7 January stayed coercive action pursuant to a GST demand raised on flats provided free of cost to landowners under a development agreement. A Bench of Justice Soumitra Saikia was hearing a writ petition filed by a developer challenging a consolidated show cause notice issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST), covering multiple financial years from 2017–18 to 2022–23. The notices proposed a levy of GST on flats handed over free of...
Supreme Court Holds Tiger Global's $1.6 Billion Flipkart Stake Sale Taxable In India
On 15 January, the Supreme Court held that capital gains arising from Tiger Global's 1.6 billion USD stake sale in Flipkart to Walmart are taxable in India. The Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan set aside the Delhi High Court's judgment, which had quashed the tax demand based on an order of the Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR). The top court held that on preliminary assessment, the transaction was designed to avoid the payment of income tax in India. The dispute...
Supreme Court Denies Housing Societies Locus To Intervene In Insolvency Admission; Issues Directions For CoC
The Supreme Court has held that housing societies lack the locus standi to intervene in the admission stage of insolvency proceedings, ruling that “right to initiate or participate in CIRP flows from the debt transaction and the statute, not from associative or representational interest.” While limiting third-party intervention, the court simultaneously directed that the Committee of Creditors (CoC) “shall mandatorily record cogent and specific reasons in writing” whenever it...
Mere Pendency Of Appeal Does Not Stall Bankruptcy Proceedings: NCLT Kochi
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Kochi Bench, on 14 January held that the mere pendency of an appeal does not operate as a stay on proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), in the absence of a specific interim order from the appellate forum. A Bench presided over by Judicial Member Vinay Goel was dealing with a batch of applications filed by Tata Capital Limited seeking initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against five personal guarantors of Simtel Trading...