Reliance Industries withdraw trademark request for Operation Sindoor: ‘Junior person filed it without authorisation'

Reliance Industries have released a statement after reports of a trademark request for Operation Sindoor surfaced online. The company, led by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, has withdrawn the application, which they say was filed by a junior person in the company without authorisation.

Reliance Industries' statement reads:

Reliance Industries has no intention of trademarking Operation Sindoor, a phrase which is now a part of the national consciousness as an evocative symbol of Indian bravery.

Jio Studios, a unit of Reliance Industries, has withdrawn its trademark application, which was filed inadvertently by a junior person without authorisation.

Reliance Industries and all its stakeholders are incredibly proud of Operation Sindoor, which came about in response to a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Operation Sindoor is the proud achievement of our brave Armed Forces in India's uncompromising fight against the evil of terrorism.

Reliance stands fully in support of our Government and Armed Forces in this fight against terrorism.Our commitment to the motto of 'INDIA FIRST' remains unwavering.

A flurry of registration requests

Sources from Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) and the Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) told HT Digital that they have received more than 30 applications to register titles exactly as or similar to Operation Sindoor. The applicants also include John Abraham and Aditya Dhar.

The intellectual property of India application website of the commerce and Industry ministry shows four applications were filed between 10:42 am and 6:27 pm on May 7, 2025, for trademark applications under Class 41 of the Nice Classification, which covers education, entertainment, media, and cultural services.

Reliance Industries was the first to file the trade mark application at 10:42 am on May 7 for 'Operation Sindoor'. Within the next 24 hours rest 3 applications were filed all seeking exclusive rights under Class 41 of the act which covers entertainment, education, cultural and media services, reported ANI.

What are trademark rules?

Indian military operations names are not automatically protected as intellectual property by the government, neither the ministry of defense often registers or commercialize these names and they are not secured under any special statutory IP framework. So unless government or ministry of defense intervenes such names remain open for trade mark claims by entities or even by private individuals.

However, the trade mark act of India empowers the Registrar to reject trade mark applications that are misleading, offensive or contrary to public policy. While filing date and time is important the Indian Trade mark law also does not guarantee trade mark rights to the first filer, in this case Reliance Industries to claim the trade mark.

What is Operation Sindoor?

The Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of Wednesday, targeting terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

This operation was a retaliatory response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians, including one Nepali national.