Can A Minor File An Application To Protect Her IP Rights In India?

In India, there are no age distinctions in Intellectual Property ["IP"] rights. Almost no IP laws, including The Patents Act, 1970,The Trade Marks Act, 1999, The Designs Act, 2000, prohibit minors from obtaining intellectual property protection.

As a result, a minor is permitted to own IP rights for her own IP. Minors are not barred from acquiring intellectual property rights under Indian law.

However, contractual incapacity prevents minors from exploiting IPRs through licences or assignments.

Intellectual property is one of the most valuable assets, and its commercial exploitation is limited to sales, licences, and assignments.

A licence in intellectual property is defined as an agreement between the licensor (owner) and another person (licensee) under which the licensee will be allowed to deal with the owner's IP rights in exchange for an agreed payment/royalty.

Although there are no statutory barriers to a minor registering for a trademark, the minor cannot commercially exploit the trademark due to a lack of contractual rights.

The minor cannot commercially exploit her IP rights because doing so requires signing a contract, which the Indian Contract Act 1872 ["ICA"] prohibits minors from doing.

Because she cannot enter into a contract with the agent, the minor cannot appoint an agent on her behalf. A minor's last resort is to involve her parents and enter into a contract through them.

As a result, the ICA and IP statutes must be revisited and amended. Minors should be granted some leeway in terms of contractual obligations in order to commercially exploit their intellectual property rights. This would not only benefit minors legally, but it would also encourage children to participate in creative activities and create valuable works that can be protected.