Legal Services

With accordance to the Companies Act, 1956 which is the exercised company law in India, a company is said so once it has been successfully registered under the present Act of the preceding Acts. Corporate affairs in India are functioning alongside numerous Company Law Acts or business laws in India which are enforced as company laws in India and regulations enforced by the Government of India and administered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

The most widely known regulations defined, that build the foundation of a corporate figure are prescribed in the Companies Act, 2013; Societies Registration Act, 1860; The Indian Partnership Act, 1932; The Companies Amendment Act, 2006; and The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. Corporate personality, the nature, and advantages of a company can best be understood by considering the few characteristic features of the company law. Firstly, Independent corporate existence. Registration under the Company Law Act makes a company vested with corporate personality, which is independent of and distinct from its members. A company is a then a legal person under the company law. Secondly, limited liability. The company once registered as functioning independent entity, does not hold members liable for its debts. If the liability of the members is limited by shares, each member is bound to pay the nominal value of the share held by them and their liability ends. Thirdly, gradual succession. This means that death or insolvency of members does not affect the continued existence of the company. Fourthly, transferable shares. A member may sell their shares in the open market and get back their money, without affecting the capital structure of the company. The law specifically declares that the shares of a public company shall be freely transferable. 

Lastly, independent functioning. The company is allowed to holding the property on its name. None of the members can claim ownership of any item of the company’s assets. Thus, when a substantial shareholder ensures the company’s assets on their name, they will not be able to liquify the amount when the said asset burns in a fire as they had no insurable interest in the company’s property. The types of companies that can be registered under the Companies Act of 2013 include; Unlimited Company: incorporated with unlimited liability of its shareholders who are all equally liable for the debts of the company in the event of insolvency; Guarantee company: The liability of the members of a company may be limited either by shares or by guarantee; Private company: fulfils mandates like having a minimum capital of one lakh rupees or more, have certain rights over its members, and have a minimum of fifty members and prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe to its shares or debentures; Foreign company: company incorporated outside of India (non-Indian company); and Government company: company having 51% or more shares held by the government. A company is registered and incorporated by filing an application with the Registration of Memorandum and accompanied by documents including Memorandum of Association (MOA), Article of Association (AOA), agreement, and a self-declaration of authenticity of furnished documents. Winding up is the process by which the life of a company is ending and its property is administered for the benefit of its members and creditors. There are various types of winding up: winding up by court, voluntary winding up, members winding up, creditors voluntary winding up, and voluntary winding up under supervision.

When the company requisites have been completely wound, the court makes an order that the company be dissolved from the date of the order. Within thirty days, the liquidator files a copy of the order with the registrar. As defined by the law of India, there lies methods of creation, maintenance and winding up of any company in the county. These methods are set for the maximum benefit of the members, shareholders, and common public of the country and are best followed at bar.

Intellectual property means a brand, invention, design, trademark or any kind of creation which a person or business as a whole carries’ legal rights over. Nearly all businesses own an intellectual property as it forms a very profitable business asset for it to grow. Widely recognized types of intellectual property include, copyright (protects written, published work such as books, songs, etc); Patents (protects commercial inventions such as a business product or process); Designs (protects product designs, blueprints, etc); Trademarks (protects unique signs, symbols, logos, words, sounds associated with the business).

India has complied with obligations under the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Indian Law covers multiple areas of intellectual property including (but not limited to), trademarks, patents, copyrights and related rights, industrial designs, geographical indications, layout designs of integrated circuits, plant varieties, information technology and cyber crimes and data protection.

Trademarks in India are protected under statutory as well as common law. In addition to trademarks there are additional categories such as certification marks and collective marks can also be registered under the Trademark Act. Certification marks are set for obeying with defined standards but are not limited to a membership. These are granted to anyone to any individual who can furnish proper certification of met required quality standards of the product. Collective marks are owned by an association as a whole. The members acquainted of the association will be able to use the collective mark to identify themselves with the quality and standard as defined by the organization. To register a trademark, any individual who claims to be the originator of the trademark can file an application. The application may be made in the name of the applicant, a partner an organization, a trust, any government department or in name of joint applicants at the time of registration.

A copyright grants to the originator and the representative’s protection from their work being copied or reused without their consent. The originator can authorize and prohibit any individual, firm or entity from reproducing their work in any form (print, audio, video, etc), from using their work for purpose of public performances (concerts, inaugurations, speeches, etc), from making copies in any form (print, DVD’s, videos), from broadcasting it in various forms (advertisements, radio, etc) or from translation of the work into any language other than original. A copyright is breached if any individual, company, trust or any entity violates any of the exclusive copyrights the owner holds without appropriate licensing requirements. In order to protect infringement, copyright societies fall into function. Copyright societies administer the rights on behalf of its members and grants licenses for the commercial exploitation of these rights. Some of the actively functioning copyright societies include, Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS), Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), Society for Copyright Regulation of Indian Producers for Film and Television (SCRIPT) and Indian Reprographic Rights Organization (IRRO).

A patent is a form of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of years. To file a grant of patent in India, a request for examination is required to be furnished in the Indian Patent Office in 48 months from the date of priority of the application or from the date of filing of the application. Once the first examination report has been issued, the applicant is given a chance to rectify any objections raised in the report within 6 months (additional 3 months may be given upon request from the applicant) of issuance of the first examination report. If the report is not filed in the prescribed time to rectify changes, the application is said to be abandoned by the applicant. The type of grant gives rights accordingly to the applicant. A patent grand for a product, gives rights to the applicant from making, using, selling or importing the patented product in India. If the patent grant is for a process, the rights given to the applicant are to prevent other individuals, firms, or any entities from using the process, using the product directly obtained by the process, selling the process, selling or importing the product in India directly obtained by the process. These are some of the categories covered by the intellectual property rights of India. They ensure synchronous functioning of businesses and processes functioning all over the county.