Explained | Anthropic vs Anthropic: All about Karnataka firm's name row with US AI giant

San Francisco-based Anthropic PBC was founded by siblings Daniela Amodei and Dario Amodei in 2021, who, by the way, are former members of OpenAI. Like the former, Anthropic has grown big worldwide, and as per the latest report, it is valued at more than $380 billion.

Long before the US-based company made its debut, a talented software engineer, Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla, had set up a startup in the same name, Anthropic Software Private Ltd in Belagavi, Karnataka.

For the last several years, the Karnataka-based startup has been doing well and growing its client base. It had a dedicated website, social media accounts and apps in the name of Anthropic.

However, when the San Francisco-based AI firm announced to set up an office in Bengaluru, it created a lot of confusion among Ayyaz Mulla's clients. The Belagavi-based start-up builds intelligent systems for clients, including AI Agent Orchestration, WiFi monetisation, education platforms, and smart driving safety features for vehicles. It is currently working with 4,400 plus educational institutions, and lakhs of students are using their application.

Even the US-based AI firm has announced to offer similar and more services to big corporations and educational institutions in India.

For obvious reasons, the online search traffic is now going to US-based companies' websites and applications. This has created a negative impact on Belagavi firm's business prospects, and this has left Mulla with no other choice but to take legal action to prevent Anthropic from usurping his firm's name.

"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 in our name. I am a software engineer with 20 years of experience. I worked in domains like cybersecurity expert, telecom, and 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," Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla ," said to ANI.

Now, Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla has filed a lawsuit in the court requesting that it protect the company's brand name and identity. And, block Anthropic PBC from using his company name in India.

US-based Anthropic PSB opened its office in Bengaluru on February 16, and on the same day, the company's officials failed to appear before the court. Now, the representatives US-based company's have been summoned to appear in the court next month on March 9, 2026.

With agency inputs.

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