Belagavi startup files complaint against Anthropic San Francisco for alleged brand violation

BELAGAVI: A software startup based in Karnataka, which is named Anthropic Software Pvt Ltd, has filed a complaint in a Belagavi court, accusing the San Francisco-based AI giant of using the same brand name as that of their firm. According to the Karnataka-based company, it was founded in 2017. Anthropic AI San Francisco is a premier AI safety and research company founded in 2021.

Anthropic Software founder & director Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla claimed, “We use ourselves as an Anthropic as a brand. So our mark is Anthropic, which we are using across our social media handles and Play Store account. We are generally known, within our customer circle and beyond, as an Anthropic, searchable everywhere, and that is since 2017. We are a Startup Karnataka, Startup India registered company. We have three patents on our name. I am a software engineer with 20 years-plus experience. I worked in domains like cybersecurity expert, telecom, high-performance computing. I worked with companies like Intel, QLogic, Bell Labs, Alcatel, Symantec. I was there also in the US for a while in New Jersey, California, Philadelphia. So I have a good experience of industrial background”.

Ayaz Mulla claims that since the Karnataka-based company uses Anthropic as a brand name there is a confusion started in searchability, in visibility.

#WATCH | Belagavi, Karnataka | On court issues summon to US based firm in trademark dispute, Anthropic Software Founder & Director, Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla says, “… Because we have been using Anthropic as our brand, confusion began to increase in mid-2025 and late-2025 as the… pic.twitter.com/h7cuepTDo5

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2026

“They have taken over the internet, that is because they are more popular. But then we are using the mark, but we are using it from 2017. We are 2017 registered and we also have 4,400 educational institutions on our kitty, lakhs of students are using. In fact, now we are going for a million users for a scholarship program”, Mulla stated.

“This increased more when they announced their Indian entry, which happened in December 2025. And they are having an office now in Bangalore. Considering that, we asked the court to let them come; there is no problem, but we want our brand to be there with us. We don’t want them to use ‘Anthropic’ as a brand to promote their products,” Mulla added.

Anthropic USA opened a Bengaluru office on February 16 announcing partnerships across enterprise, education, and agriculture that deepen our commitment to India across a range of sectors. They are yet to comment on the complaint filed by the Karnataka-based startup. (ANI)