Belagavi (Karnataka), Feb 17 (NationPress) A commercial court in Belagavi, Karnataka, has dispatched new summons to the US-based artificial intelligence firm Anthropic PBC regarding a trademark infringement lawsuit initiated by a local company concerning the name "Anthropic".

The ruling was issued on Monday by Principal District and Sessions Judge Manjunath Nayak after the representatives from the American firm failed to show up in court on February 16, despite having received prior notice.

The lawsuit has been filed by Anthropic Softwares Private Ltd, a company based in Belagavi, which claims a violation of its trademark. The Indian firm is seeking a temporary injunction to prevent the US company from representing itself as affiliated with it by using the name "Anthropic" or any similar mark.

The complaint states that the Belagavi firm has utilized the name "Anthropic" since 2017, building considerable goodwill in the Indian subcontinent over the years. It argues that the name of the American company appears prominently on AI platforms and Google searches, causing confusion among users, customers, and stakeholders.

According to the lawsuit, "As a result, the plaintiff’s name has been entirely excluded from search suggestions and related results. This has led to confusion among users, customers, and stakeholders, who are misled into thinking that the US company is linked to or has supplanted the Indian company," the lawsuit contends.

The Indian firm has referred to a newspaper article indicating that the US company is launching its first office in India and a website announcement suggesting that operations in Bengaluru will start in early 2026.

On January 17, 2026, the court authorized the filing of the lawsuit without mandatory pre-institution mediation, observing that urgent interim relief was sought. However, it declined to grant an ex parte injunction, noting that there was insufficient evidence to show that the defendant had begun operations in India using the plaintiff’s registered mark.

The court also pointed out that the defendant's address listed in the case was in San Francisco, implying that no Indian establishment was operational at that time, indicating a lack of immediate threat of infringement, which led to the refusal of an ex parte temporary injunction.

Nevertheless, the court issued a notice on the interim application and sent summons to the US firm. Since no representatives attended the hearing on Monday, the court mandated fresh summons to be delivered to the company’s officers at its newly opened Bengaluru office.

The case is anticipated to be discussed further after the service of summons.