This blog/article is written by Aarushi Relan, Learning Manager at Lawctopus Law School

Have you picked Intellectual Property (‘IP’) as a professional path because it sounds cool? Are you under the impression that IP lawyers are filthy rich? Or, did you pick IP law for a reason you cannot quite name, and now you are wondering whether IP law is right for you after all?

You can easily distinguish between a first copy of a branded Lady Dior bag from the one sold in counterfeit shops in Sarojini Nagar or dropped into Instagram and WhatsApp resale groups.1  It is the same eye a trademark lawyer trades on, and it becomes a real asset to a client. A report by Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA) found that nearly 35% of consumers encountered counterfeit products last year.2

These instincts transfer well into real practice. The world of brands like Jaguar, Royal Enfield, McDonald’s, etc. genuinely fascinates you. The stories which artistic work like painting (Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci) have to tell intrigue you. You are the kind of person who wonders why Lay’s is called Walkers in the UK3 and Chipsy in Egypt. If any of this sounds like you, you are at the right place! 

None of this is really about whether you love technology, brands or logos, or even about the money. It is about a handful of instincts good IP lawyers naturally have. Here are a few of them, listed below.

5 Instincts That Reveal If IP Law Is For You

1. You have an eye for detail and notice things other miss

Image 1: PUNA-PUMA trademark conflict

Reading a Trademarks journal closely to catch a conflicting mark is one of the most important skills an IP attorney must have.4 Hand the same journal to five people, and four may read past it as a wall of text. The fifth spots that PUNA, a sportswear mark published in the Trademark Journal, conflicts with the well-known brand PUMA.

A big chunk of IP work such as Trademark Clearance Search (i.e. checking if any mark conflicts with the client’s mark), Prior Art search before a patent application, etc. is about attention to detail. Even drafting a transactional work such as a Copyright Licensing Agreement requires attention to relevant clauses like indemnity or royalties due to an artist.

2. You are interested to understand who made the IP and who actually owns it

Image 2: Freelancer copyright transfer flow

This is one of the most interesting questions in IP that before you enforce or file for that trademark or copyright application, proving that the client is the actual owner of the IP is messier than it sounds, because so much creative work is outsourced to freelancers and specialists. 

For instance, a Freelancer Graphic Designer Roshni Talwar creates a logo for a restaurant known as mirchi STUDIO RESTAURANT. A budding IP lawyer would wonder who would own the copyright to the creative logo, Roshni or Mirchi Studio Restaurant?  

The default rule in Section 17 of the Copyright Act, 1957 is that the author, the person who actually creates the work, is the first owner of the copyright.5 Section 17(c) of the Act hands ownership to the employer only when the work is made by an employee in the course of employment, under a contract of service.6 Since, a freelancer is not an employee, they work under a contract for service, so the exception of Section 17(c) does not directly apply. 

Putting this together can feel like a trap and confusing. The only easy and clean fix is a written and signed assignment where the rights of an IP are transferred from the artist to the client under Section 19 of the Act.7 

So, the instinct here is provenance. If your first question on seeing any logo, product photo or a creative musical jingle is, “Great, but who created this and is there a signed assignment of IP rights”, you are already thinking like an IP lawyer not a layperson.

3. You like drawing clean boundaries around messy problems

Almost every IP question is really a boundary question in disguise. Where does a patent claim stop and the public domain begin? What exactly did a license grant? Is the grant exclusive or non-exclusive in nature? When a trademark is registered for a broad category of goods like “clothing”, does that stop someone from selling branded shoes and bags?8

The job is to decide  where protection starts and stops, then hold that line in front of an examiner, client or a judge, each of whom is pushing it the other way. The licensee wants the grant to read wide. The opponent of a trademark wants your goods classification narrow. Some people like me love being handed a messy set of facts to be sorted into clean categories while others may find it complicated and draining. Neither reaction is wrong, but worth knowing which one is yours before you sign up for a career to build on it.

4. You value the art of negotiation and networking

Image 3: From objection to defence 

IP sits between two rooms that do not speak the same language. In one room is the investor, the designer or a startup founder who cares about the product. In the other is the examiner, judge, opposing counsel or the deal team who care about the grant, infringing rights, scope and enforceability. Your job is to stand in the doorway and translate between professionals who speak a different professional lingo. 

You would be required to make a start-up founder understand how using a geographical location. For instance, “New Delhi” in a trademark logo can invite a Section 9(1)(b) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 objection by the Trade Marks Registrar9. At the same time, you switch rooms and argue that the composite mark is distinctive as a whole10,“New Delhi” can be disclaimed as nobody can claim monopoly over the city’s name, or the mark has acquired distinctiveness through use.

But translation is only half of it. Most IP value is not won in a courtroom but at the negotiating table. There is a reason why limited IP matters reach the Supreme Court of India. Licenses, assignments, coexistence agreements, royalty splits, settlements, etc., require good mediation skills. That is why relationships matter more in IP than budding lawyers expect.

Clients arrive through referral and good word of mouth. You deal with the same examiners, agents, judges and opposing counsels on a daily basis, so your reputation travels ahead of you.

A trademark coexistence deal between nearly identical and deceptively similar marks such as MADHUVAN restaurant and MADHUBAN organic fruits shall close faster than expected if you already know and trust the opposing counsel. This is not just a “nice-to-have” network but it is also a pipeline that helps you get work done faster.

5. You see IP as an asset and necessity, not a decorative piece 

The mindset shifts when you become an IP lawyer. Where a layman sees money spent on an IP as a cost, you show the client why it is an investment. The client rarely wants to understand the elegance of a trademark doctrine.

They wish to understand whether they can use the trade name freely without being sued, or is it worth investing in trademark protection.

If your first instinct after hearing a new brand name is “Let me check whether anyone is already using it in the Trade Marks Register,” you’re already thinking like an IP practitioner.

Instinct is a starting point and not a verdict. Every one of these skills is something that you can build on eventually and plenty of excellent IP lawyers and experts are not born with noticing tiny details. They have trained themselves to think this way. The honest test is not whether you like IP, but whether you would enjoy sitting with a trademark clearance search for two-three hours, drafting a response to an objection raised by an examiner and reading a copyright licensing agreement clause-by-clause.

Think you have the instincts of an IP lawyer? Turn that instinct into a career advantage.

If you are considering IPR & TMT, speak to our counsellors to understand where this specialisation can take your legal career, what skills you’ll need, and whether it’s the right fit for you.

Call +91 93596 84056 for a free counselling call or write to courses@lawctopus.com.

Ready to build a career in a field where law meets brands, technology, media and innovation? Explore our IPR & TMT courses. Don’t just study IP law. Build the skills to work in it.

References

  1. Vinay MR Mishra et al., Fake it till you bag the OG…Inside the business of high-end counterfeits, THE TIMES OF INDIA, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/fashion/luxury/inside-indias-thriving-high-end-counterfeit-market-the-rise-of-superfakes/articleshow/127832585.cms. ↩︎
  2. Kishan Singh, Counterfeit Epidemic: How Fake Products are Infiltrating India’s Consumer Market, BUSINESSWORLD, https://www.businessworld.in/article/counterfeit-epidemic-how-fake-products-are-infiltrating-india-s-consumer-market-597838. ↩︎
  3. Olivia Burke, Reason why Walkers are called Lays everywhere else outside the UK, LADBIBLE, https://www.ladbible.com/lifestyle/food-and-drink/why-walkers-called-lays-abroad-800097-20231020. ↩︎
  4. Office of CGPDTM, Trade Marks Journal, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, https://search.ipindia.gov.in/IPOJournal/Journal/Trademark. ↩︎
  5. The Copyright Act, 1957, No. 14, Acts of Parliament, 1957 (India), Section 17. ↩︎
  6. Id. Section 17(b) – (c). ↩︎
  7. Id. Section 19. ↩︎
  8. WIPO, Nice Classification, 13th ed., version 2026, https://www.wipo.int/en/web/classification-nice. ↩︎
  9. The Trade Marks Act, 1999, No. 47, Acts of Parliament, 1999 (India), Section 9(1)(b). ↩︎
  10. Id. Section 17. ↩︎

About the Author

Aarushi Relan is an Intellectual Property and Technology Law practitioner with 5+ years of experience. She holds a B.Com. LL.B. (Hons.) from Amity University and an LL.M. in International IP and Technology Laws from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a Learning Manager at Lawctopus Law School, specialising in Trademarks, Copyright and Technology Law.