Anthropic India is distinct from U.S.-based firm, counsel tells court

Anthropic India, a fully owned subsidiary of Anthropic PBC, an U.S.-based AI company, argued before the District Court in Belagavi that the Indian company is an individual legal entity, distinct from the U.S.-based company.

Anthropic India’s advocate Tejas C. Shetty submitted before the Principal District and Commercial Court that he could not receive summons meant to be sent to the U.S. company or appear on its behalf in a court of law when the matter came up for hearing on Monday.

Mr. Shetty was responding to summons issued by the court in a case filed by Belagavi-based IT company Anthropic Software Pvt. Ltd. which has maintained that the U.S.-based company has been using the same name (Anthropic) as its, causing it huge losses.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Manjunath Naik, who is also judge of the Principal District and Commercial Court, adjourned the matter till March 23, asking the plaintiff to take appropriate steps in this regard by the next date.

Advocate for Anthropic Software in Belagavi Satish Karale later told reporters that they will file an amended plaint, including the name of Anthropic India as another party.

“My client Mohammad Ayaz Mulla has suffered injustice from both the companies and seeks relief from both. We will keep the rest of the plant as it is and add the name of the Indian entity [in the amended plaint],” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Mulla’s lawyers argued before the court that when they filed the case in Belagavi court a few months ago, Anthropic PBC did not have an Indian office.

Mr. Shetty, meanwhile, said that if Anthropic India were to be made a party to the case, they will accept it and present their side of the argument.

He said that the initial summons were meant to be sent to the U.S.-based company. Later, they were sent to the Bengaluru office.

“Though we are a fully owned subsidiary of the U.S.-based Anthropic PBC, we are not their branch office. We are a separate legal identity under Indian law. We cannot receive summons on their behalf or argue in their favour,” he said.

He produced a set of documents containing citations of some old cases that said that Indian subsidiaries cannot receive summons meant for their U.S. offices.

Anthropic PBC is a San Francisco-based AI company whose products include CLAUDE.AI.

Anthropic Software Private Limited is a Belagavi-based IT company that has created IT tools like AI integrated personal tutors, safe driving technology applications, community WIFI tools and school management.

In his petition filed before the court, Mohammad Ayaz Mulla, who is founder of the Belagavi-based company, has said that he registered his company in 2017, while the U.S.-based company was registered in 2021 and its Indian subsidiary was registered in 2026.