Trademark Registration Alone Does Not Establish Copyright Ownership

The Delhi High Court has dismissed an attempt by Japan Tobacco and an affiliate to remove a rival’s copyright registration for CAMEL artwork. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela held that trademark registrations and international use did not, without proof of authorship or first publication, establish first ownership of copyright in the artistic work. The court distinguished territorial trademark rights from copyright and found that statements made in a separate infringement suit were not unequivocal admissions of the petitioners’ ownership. The registered proprietor had produced its 1997 copyright registration asserting first publication in 1992. Because the petitioners failed to prove that the register contained a wrongly remaining entry, the rectification petition was dismissed on 5 October 2026. The ruling does not determine the merits of the parties’ separate trademark litigation.