Trademark infringement and counterfeit branding raise interconnected questions of proprietary protection, consumer deception and market governance. This article critically examines the Indian legal response to fake brands through doctrinal analysis of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, judicial decisions, intermediary liability, consumer protection and border enforcement. It distinguishes counterfeit goods from deceptively similar marks, passing off, trade dress imitation and legitimate resale, arguing that conceptual precision is indispensable to proportionate enforcement. Indian law supplies substantial remedial powers but distributes responsibility across institutions whose functions do not automatically align, and judicial approaches to resemblance, goodwill and intermediaries show the need for evidence-sensitive adjudication. The article proposes a coordinated framework centred on seller traceability, reliable evidence preservation, differentiated responses to repeated infringement and accessible consumer redress. It concludes that trademark protection should target dishonest commercial appropriation without becoming unrestricted control over descriptive language, genuine goods or lawful competition.
