Senior Partner
Safir Anand
Senior Partner & Head of Department (Trademarks, Contractual & Commercial IP)
Safir Anand is a new-age entrepreneurial lawyer with eclectic engagements and innovative practices, disrupting the archetypical legal services.
Accredited as one of India’s leading Intellectual Property attorneys, Safir Anand is Senior Partner and Head of Trademarks, Contractual and Commercial IP at Anand and Anand, with over three decades of experience spanning IP prosecution and enforcement, strategic advisory, commercialization, licensing, franchising, monetization, due diligence and complex commercial agreements.
What distinguishes Safir’s practice is his visionary and business-led approach to intellectual property. Over the years, he has consistently expanded the role of IP beyond protection and enforcement to include strategy, valuation, product development, brand architecture, market positioning and monetization. His work has helped clients unlock long-term commercial value from brands, innovation and creative assets, while shaping industry-level specialisations in areas such as fashion, advertising, cultural heritage, luxury and event ecosystems.
Safir has also been at the forefront of several first-of-their-kind initiatives, from pioneering concepts around returns on advertising and event IP audits to developing product prototypes, creating platforms that celebrate India’s creative economy, and advising on the revival and protection of cultural heritage through IP. His ability to combine legal depth with commercial foresight, creativity and institution-building has given a new dimension to how intellectual property is viewed and leveraged in India.
His work continues to redefine the intersection of law, brands, business strategy and innovation.
- Recognised as Top Individual Lawyer 2025 by Fortune India
- Recognised for Excellence in IPR Practice by Economic Times Global Legal Awards 2025
- Recognized as an Icon in legal by Indian Business Law Journal for the year 2026
- WTR Global Leaders 2025
- Recognized among the Asian Legal Business (ALB) Super 50 Lawyers 2025
- Lexology Index- Client Choice Award 2025
- Safir has been ranked as Top Individual in Intellectual Property by Chambers Asia-Pacific 2024
- Featured in the Forbes India Legal Power List 2024 among the top 100 individual lawyers
- Recognized as World Trademark Review’s 2024 Global Leader in Private Practice
- Recognized as IAM 300 Global Leaders- 2024
- Lexology- Global Elite Thought Leader
- Featured in the A List of India’s Top Lawyers by Indian Business Law Journal
- Safir has been awarded the Mentor’s Choice Award at the Mastering Boardroom Conclave & Awards, 2025
- Managing IP Trademark Star- 2024
- Recognized as one of the Top 100 Leading Law Firm Professional by Lawyers Power League 2023
- Recognized as Leading Lawyers-Trademark Prosecution by leaders League 2022
- Listed as Elite Practitioner by Asia Law 2023
- Recognized as Trademarks Law Expert of the Year in India by Leaders in Law Global Awards 2022
- The firm has been recognized as National Firm of the Year- IP Prosecution by Asia IP 2022
- Awarded the Trademark Law Expert-2021 by Leaders in law Global Awards
- Managing IP Trademark Star- 2024
- Ranked as Leading Lawyer- Trademark Prosecution by Leaders League 2022
- Ranked as Elite Practitioners by Asia Law
- Safir has been recognized as WTR Global Leaders 2022
- Conferred with the title of “Distinguished Legal Minds of India” by Legal Era
- Safir has been awarded as the Best IP Lawyer of the Year at the Business World Global Leaders Awards 2021
- Safir has been awarded as the Trademark Lawyer of the Year at the Legal Era Indian Legal Awards 2021-22
- Safir has been enlisted in the Forbes India’s Legal Powerlist 2021 (also 2020) as one of the Top Individual Lawyers
- Safir has been conferred with the International Advisory Experts Award for exemplary performance in the field of Intellectual Property for the year 2022.
- Awarded as the Trademark Lawyer of Year by Legal Era- Indian Legal Awards 2020-21
- Awarded the extremely prestigious “IAF-Atmanirbhar Bharat Award 2020-21”
- Featured in IAM Strategy 300 in its 2021 edition of Global Leaders guide
- India Business Law Journal ranked Safir among India’s top 100 lawyers and featured him in The 2021 A-list
- Safir is the only lawyer to be amongst the notable Global Achiever’s Award 2021 announced by HBW.
- Featured as Trademark Law Expert of the year in India for 2021 by Leaders in Law.
- Conferred with the ASSOCHAM IP Excellence Awards 2021 as Outstanding Practitioner of the year- Trademark
- The Firm has been recognized as Full Service IP Firm of the Year and Trademark Firm of the Year by ASSOCHAM IP Excellence Awards 2022
- Awarded Luxury Law Firm of the Year- Independent- 2022
Safir Anand is widely recognised as one of India’s foremost intellectual property strategists, known for blending deep legal acumen with business model innovation, commercialization strategy, marketing insight and brand-led growth thinking. Over more than three decades, he has advised leading Indian and global businesses on scaling through the strategic use of IP, helping transform intangible assets into engines of enterprise value, expansion and market differentiation.
His work has consistently focused on unlocking the untapped commercial potential of brands, designs, cultural assets and innovation ecosystems through specialised IP services spanning protection, enforcement, monetization, licensing, franchising, valuation and due diligence. This unique approach has earned him prestigious advisory and board positions with several leading national and international organisations, while also making him a trusted strategic advisor to some of India’s most valuable brands.
Safir has been instrumental in tailoring IP strategy to business strategy across a wide range of sectors, including luxury, fashion, hospitality, entertainment, retail, consumer products, cultural heritage and emerging digital businesses. His ability to merge legal protection with scale, market positioning and monetization has redefined the way IP is leveraged in India.
Landmark Contributions
As a firm, several industry-defining milestones have been achieved under his leadership, including:
- The first colour mark registration in India
- The first sound mark registration
- The first shape mark registration
- The first .com trademark registration
- Among the first registrations of moving trademarks
- Among the first to file online trademark applications
- Recognition of character merchandising and enforcement of fictional and well-known characters across unrelated goods and services
- Assignment without goodwill
- The first adjudication of a well-known mark by the Trade Marks Office
- Introducing trans-border reputation concepts in opposition proceedings
- Introducing the concept of mortgage against intellectual property
- Introducing split ownership of trademarks between different proprietors
- Protection of the first image of a building as a trademark, later recognised by Financial Times, London, for innovation
Recent Professional Milestones
Recent highlights from his work include:
- Successfully leading over 3,000 contentious opposition matters, setting new internal benchmarks in brand protection
- Leading writ petitions before the Trade Marks Office challenging non-speaking and ad hoc examination orders
- Conceptualising “IP to IPO – Monetising your Intellect” for BSE Institute Limited
- Serving on the INTA Foundation Board of Governors (2025–2027)
- Contributing to DPIIT stakeholder consultations on amendments to the Trade Marks Act and Designs Act
- Serving on government and parliamentary initiatives relating to One State One Product, emblems, manuscript heritage and creative economy policy
- Building platforms such as IPFeast, which bring together brands, creators, policymakers and thought leaders to celebrate India’s innovation and cultural capital
- Developing first-of-their-kind initiatives in festival audits, cultural heritage monetization, product prototyping and event-linked IP strategy
Safir’s career continues to stand at the intersection of law, brands, culture, innovation and business transformation.
Safir Anand engages extensively in extra-professional, cultural and community-facing initiatives that use intellectual property as a tool for awareness, inclusion, creativity and public impact. His work in this space reflects a long-standing commitment to taking IP beyond legal circles and making it relevant to creators, entrepreneurs, artisans, institutions and the larger public.
Some of his notable engagements include:
- Composed the original song “Let’s Calm The World” in collaboration with DJ NYK, released globally on World Environment Day 2020
- Conceptualised the film “Scary Tales to Fairy Tales”, bringing together brand development, risk mitigation and storytelling
- Selected on merit by Thukral & Tagra to participate in the Delhi Art Fair
- Commissioned the first artwork on Intellectual Property
- Published the first book on brands, expanding conversations around branding and IP
- Developed the first product prototype for an automobile company
- Pioneered the concept of festival audits and diligences in India, including strategic scaling inputs for platforms such as the Jaipur Literature Festival
- Initiated the first COVID relief fund for fashion workers and artisans, extending support to creative communities during the pandemic
- Conceptualised “My Rights Fest”, a first-of-its-kind legal awareness initiative for the common public
- Developed product and service prototypes for leading consumer businesses, including JHS Brands
- Curated and hosted the first-ever chat show based on IP
- Contributed to the first corporate governance dispute addressed through an IP lens, leading to a successful settlement
- Contributed to the International Book on Fashion Law and Franchise Law
- Created IPFeast, a unique platform celebrating India’s brands, culture, creativity and innovation ecosystems
- Worked closely on reviving cultural heritage through IP strategy, including advisory and board roles with Royal Fables
- Captured the IP journeys of over 70 Indian brands through the book Chrysalis
- Authored books such as India Unboxed and Confessions of Stock Market Wizards, expanding public discourse on India, brands, markets and innovation
Through these initiatives, Safir continues to bridge law, creativity, culture and public engagement, reinforcing the wider social relevance of intellectual property.
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