An Indian software firm using the name 'Anthropic', claimed to have been started before the American artificial intelligence company by the same name began operations in India, has approached a Belagavi court seeking to restrain the US-based firm's activities, claiming brand and identity conflict.
The principal district and commercial court of Belagavi has issued a notice to the US-based company, Anthropic. The summons was issued following due procedure and in accordance with Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines, as the company is based abroad, NDTV reported.
According to Bar and Bench, the principal district and sessions court, presided over by Judge Manjunath Nayak, had earlier issued summons to the company, but its representatives failed to appear before the court on Feb.16. Following this, the court ordered fresh summons on Monday to be served on officers of the company at its newly opened Bengaluru office.
The case has been filed by Mohammed Ayaz, who has claimed that he established a software company named 'Anthropic' in 2017, with its registration and operations based in Karnataka's Belagavi.
However, following the entry of the US-based AI giant of the same name, he has moved court claiming that online traffic to his company is being diverted, which could lead to degrade of the digital identity and existence of his company.
Why Mohammad Ayaz , Founder Of Anthrophic Softwares, Moved Court
Speaking to NDTV, Mohammad Ayaz, Founder-Director of Anthropic Softwares Pvt Ltd., explained the impact of the dispute on his company and why he decided to move court.
“We are a 2017 registered company. For a software startup, identity is everything, so our identity is completely destroyed. Owing to which we are facing a lot of problems, like investor confusion, customer confusion, customer is not able to verify our products, not able to reach customer care. For that reason we filed a case in Belagavi PDJ. What we are demanding is to protect our legal rights,” he said.
He further described the company's work and patents to underline its operations and legitimacy.
“We are a software company, concentrating on the education field, especially competitive exams. We have two patents, one is in driving safety and another in wifi monetisation.”
He spoke about a new technology the company is preparing to launch and the difficulties faced while raising funds.
He highlighted their new product which aimed to drastically reduce internet costs would be rolled out soon. “For this technology, we started raising funds last year. Because of this confusion, we are facing a lot of problems.”
He also spoke about the road safety life-saving patent, which has been funded by the Karnataka Government. “People speak on the phone while driving which causes accidents. To avoid that, we have developed a technology.”
Ayaz emphasised that his company had been operating legally in India since 2017 and considerd itself the prior user of the brand name in the country. He said, “We are an Indian company, registered in 2017. We made everything by abiding by the Indian laws."
He said, “A big company should not push down a startup. Startups are contributing a lot to the economy of India, so we expect and we believe that we will get justice and a good message of fairness will go out.”
To support his claims, Ayaz showed documents related to company registration, Startup India recognition, and patents granted by the Central government.
“All our documents show that from 2017 to till now we are in continuous use of the name Anthropic Softwares Ltd,” he said.
Responding to a question on whether he had checked for international companies using the same name earlier, he said the US-based firm had already sued them in 2025.
“In August 2025, Anthropic issued a legal notice to us, which we responded to. The entire legal notice period ran for one month, so they already know that there is a company in India with the same name as Anthropic. They got registration from the Ministry of MCA, in December or January, so they already know,” he added.
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