Skip to content
Juris EagleAdvisoryArbitrationLitigation

Sectors

Technology and services

Legal work for technology, platform and service businesses: data protection under the DPDP Act, intermediary liability, content and IP licensing, platform regulation, and the licensing and governance regimes that apply to media, education, hospitality and the creative economy.

What the businesses in this sector have in common is that their principal asset is intangible and their principal exposure is regulatory. A platform holds data and carries liability for what its users do with it. A studio holds copyright and licenses it out in pieces. An institution holds a recognition that can be withdrawn. In each case the value sits in a document or a permission, and the legal work is about keeping that document accurate and that permission current.

Data and intermediary liability

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 apply together to almost every business in this sector. The first governs what personal data may be collected, on what basis, and what has to happen when it is breached. The second, with the intermediary rules made under it, sets the conditions on which a platform is not liable for third-party content. Those conditions are lost if a takedown or a grievance process is not run as the rules require. Enforcement in both regimes begins with a notice, and the answer to that notice is usually decided by records created long before it arrived.

Licences and recognitions

Education, hospitality and broadcasting share a structure: the business cannot lawfully operate without a recognition, an affiliation or a licence, and that instrument is granted subject to conditions and can be suspended. Challenges to fee regulation, to an affiliation decision, or to the cancellation of an excise or food safety licence are brought in writ jurisdiction before the High Court, and turn on whether the authority followed its own procedure.

Media and art matters are, in practice, title matters. Who owns the work, what was assigned and what was only licensed, whether moral rights survive the assignment, and whether the chain of provenance can be evidenced. Antiquities and cultural property add a statutory regime over the top, and a cross-border sale adds customs treatment and export permission.

Industries in this sector

Technology and digital enterprises

Software, SaaS and e-commerce businesses operate under the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the intermediary rules made under them, alongside the ordinary corporate and contract questions of a company that scales quickly.

A linked capability has a note behind it.

  • Digital Personal Data Protection Act compliance
  • IT Act compliance and intermediary liability
  • Cyber law disputes and enforcement proceedings
  • IP enforcement and technology licensing disputes
  • SaaS and technology contract disputes and arbitration
  • Corporate structuring for technology enterprises
  • Cross-border technology investment and FEMA compliance
  • Regulatory questions for platform businesses and marketplaces

Gaming and online platforms

Online gaming and platform businesses sit under the online gaming regulatory framework, GST enforcement on platform receipts, intermediary liability under the IT Act and the data protection regime, each of which has moved in the last three years.

  • Online gaming regulatory compliance and MeitY questions
  • GST structuring and disputes for gaming platforms
  • Intermediary liability and IT Act compliance
  • Digital Personal Data Protection Act compliance
  • Fantasy sports and skill gaming regulatory questions
  • Content moderation and takedown disputes
  • Foreign investment structuring for digital platforms
  • Defence of regulatory investigations and show-cause proceedings

Media and entertainment

Media, broadcasting and streaming businesses carry intellectual property exposure alongside contract and regulatory risk: copyright in the content, the terms on which it is licensed and distributed, broadcasting regulation and the law of defamation and personality rights.

  • Copyright enforcement and infringement proceedings
  • Content licensing and distribution agreement disputes
  • Defamation proceedings
  • Talent and artist contract disputes
  • Broadcasting and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting compliance
  • Content regulation for streaming platforms
  • Film financing and co-production agreement disputes
  • Personality and image rights enforcement

Education and institutions

Universities, schools, trusts and societies operate under a layered framework: the regulator for the class of institution, the state education statute, the trust or society law under which the body is constituted, and fee regulation.

  • Trust and society governance disputes
  • Fee regulation litigation and High Court challenges
  • UGC and AICTE regulatory compliance
  • Service and employment disputes for faculty
  • Land and property disputes for institutional campuses
  • Affiliation and recognition proceedings
  • Minority institution rights and constitutional questions
  • Donor and endowment fund disputes

Hospitality and tourism

Hotels, resorts, restaurant groups and travel businesses sit across several licensing regimes at once (excise, food safety, fire and local body permissions), with labour regulation and consumer protection over the top.

  • Licensing and excise regulatory compliance
  • Franchise and hotel management agreement disputes
  • Employment and labour law advisory
  • Consumer protection and guest liability matters
  • Land and property disputes for hospitality assets
  • FSSAI and food safety compliance
  • Insurance claims and force majeure disputes
  • Insolvency and restructuring for hospitality enterprises

Art, culture and creative industries

Fine art, antiquities and the auction trade raise a distinct set of questions: authorship and moral rights, provenance and title, the antiquities regime that governs cultural property, and the customs treatment of works that cross a border.

  • Artist copyright enforcement and moral rights
  • Provenance disputes and title verification for artworks
  • Cultural property and antiquities regulatory compliance
  • Auction and gallery contract disputes
  • Cross-border art transactions and customs compliance
  • Art fund structuring
  • Authentication disputes and the liability of a valuer or authenticator
  • Cultural heritage protection and repatriation proceedings

Regulators

  • Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
  • Data Protection Board of India
  • Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
  • University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education
  • Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
  • Archaeological Survey of India

Forums

  • High Courts, in writ jurisdiction over regulators and institutions
  • Commercial courts, in IP and contract suits
  • Consumer commissions
  • Arbitral tribunals under platform, licensing and franchise agreements

Practice areas that apply

  • Boardroom and corporate

    Standing legal advisory to boards and promoters on governance, contract oversight, regulatory compliance and outsourced in-house legal support.

  • Transaction advisory

    Structuring, documentation and due diligence for acquisitions, joint ventures and restructuring transactions under Indian law.

  • Capital markets

    Advisory on public and private capital raising, listing compliance and continuing obligations under Indian securities law.

  • Contracts and procurement

    Drafting, review and negotiation of commercial contracts and procurement documentation across the supply chain.

  • IP and licensing

    Protection, licensing and enforcement of trademarks, patents, copyright and trade secrets under Indian intellectual property law.

  • Civil disputes

    Representation in commercial suits, shareholder disputes and civil litigation before trial, commercial and appellate courts.

  • PMLA

    Advisory and defence in money laundering investigations and proceedings before the Enforcement Directorate and PMLA authorities.

  • Technology, data and product

    Advisory on data protection, technology contracting and product compliance obligations for technology-driven businesses.

  • Employment

    Advisory and representation on employment disputes, disciplinary process, industrial relations and labour code compliance.

  • Taxation and fiscal

    Advisory and litigation on goods and services tax, direct tax and indirect tax disputes before departmental and appellate forums.

  • White-collar and cyber defence

    Defence and advisory in cybercrime, digital evidence and corporate regulatory offence proceedings before investigating and prosecuting authorities.

Counsel

  • Adv. Adithya Karthik K

    BBA, MBA, LL.B., LL.M. (Corporate & Commercial Law), PGD IP Law

    Transactions, Capital Markets & Regulatory

  • Adv. Harsha Swaroop P

    B.E., LL.B., LL.M. (Corporate & Commercial Law)

    Corporate, Projects & Regulatory

  • Adv. Ravi Kumar

    BA, MBA, LL.B., LL.M. (Corporate & Commercial Law)

    Employment, Workplace & Banking

  • Adv. Dr. Vijay Mishra

    M.Sc. (Physical Sciences), Doctorate, LL.B.

    Technology, Semiconductors & Intellectual Property

Notes

Practice: Technology, data and product · IP and licensing · Contracts and procurement · Boardroom and corporate · Civil disputes · Employment · White-collar and cyber defence · Taxation and fiscal