Purnima Singh, Head, Intellectual Property Practice Group
• Admitted to the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa in 1999
• LL.M., University of Sheffield in 2000 in intellectual property
• Enrolled as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2002
Purnima Singh, is Heads the IP Practice Group at Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe and practices general commercial law specializing in IP and related laws.
The firm acts on both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. It has represented clients in some of the heaviest IP and media litigations in India related to brands, advertising, newspaper publication as also the payment of royalty fees to copyright societies. Clients include leading players in the FM radio industry, film production companies, large international publishing houses, film productions companies, authors, singers and other artists.
Recent matters of the firm include obtaining a successful award in a heavy copyright license dispute which greatly impacts the FM radio broadcasting industry in India.
Purnima’s experience includes advising on contentious and non-contentious issues related to trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, designs, domain names and aspects of cyber laws. She has extensive experience in IP due diligences including in the FMCG and media industries and negotiates transaction terms and drafts IP documentation for clients in various industries such as media and entertainment, fashion, luxury goods, publishing, software and technology.
Purnima has advised on and negotiated media contracts such as film financing, film production, publisher and author’s agreements, photography exhibition agreements, sound recording agreements etc., and related issues like personality and image rights and rights of publicity. She is experienced in advising on advertising norms and codes particularly with regard to advertising alcohol and tobacco which are heavily regulated industries in India.
She has devised strategies for domain name actions against cyber-squatters at WIPO and the .IN Registry and regularly advises clients in relation to their trademark and domain name portfolios and the protection of their IP in general, including registrations and enforcement. She has advised on matters relating to counterfeiting activities and has been involved in raid actions and matters before the Bombay and Delhi High Court, and been involved in arbitrations pertaining to film distribution rights as also music broadcasting.
Purnima has submitted recommendations to the Indian Parliament which had invited comments to the Copyright Amendment Bill, 2010. Several of these were considered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee and mentioned in their Report.
Purnima has authored several articles in leading intellectual property and media publications and her comments and opinions are often sought by such publications on developments on Indian intellectual property law.
