Nayantara Malhotra is the Founder and the IP Practice Head at Ostara Legal, where she advises domestic and global businesses on building, protecting, and defending intellectual property with a clear commercial focus.

Before founding Ostara Legal, Nayantara led an independent practice vertical and team at a top tier intellectual property law firm in New Delhi, where she handled a broad range of domestic and cross-border mandates for leading Indian and international clients. That experience provided her with extensive exposure to the standards, responsiveness, and strategic approach expected by global businesses and foreign counsels – an approach she continues to bring to Ostara Legal with her IP team.

With close to a decade of experience in intellectual property law, Nayantara has worked extensively on mandates for large international conglomerates, particularly from North America and other key global markets.

Recognizing the need for an intellectual property practice that approaches IP not in isolation, but as an integral part of broader commercial and business objectives, she established Ostara Legal to provide commercially grounded, strategy-led advisory tailored to long-term growth and risk management.

Her work goes beyond conventional IP advisory. She is known for conducting comprehensive clearance searches and designing protection strategies that anticipate risk, minimise future conflict, and support long-term brand value. Whether advising on brand adoption, structuring multi-jurisdictional portfolios and settlements, or handling enforcement and defence, her focus remains on ensuring that clients are positioned strongly from the outset.

A defining aspect of her practice is her ability to identify gaps, both in enforcement actions and defence scenarios – and use them to the client’s advantage. This has enabled her to successfully protect business continuity, limit exposure, and resolve disputes at the pre-litigation stage wherever possible. Where escalation becomes necessary, she approaches litigation with a clear, commercially aligned strategy.

For patent matters, Nayantara works in close coordination with the firm’s specialised patents team, ensuring that patent strategy is aligned with the client’s overall IP and commercial objectives. This integrated approach allows clients to benefit from technical depth while maintaining a cohesive, business-focused IP strategy across jurisdictions.

She also works closely with the firm’s corporate team on matters involving trade secrets, confidential information, and media-related commercial arrangements. This includes designing confidentiality frameworks, advising on ownership and control mechanisms, structuring content and IP exploitation arrangements, and ensuring that intellectual property is effectively safeguarded through well-structured commercial agreements, employment contracts, licensing arrangements, and transaction documentation.

Nayantara believes in having a hands on and detail oriented approach, often acts as an extension of their team. This ensures that clients are guided through each stage with clarity and confidence, particularly in high-stakes or unfamiliar situations.

She regularly advises a wide range of clients, including those seeking India-specific IP expertise, and Indian businesses and startups looking to build and scale strong, defensible brands.

At its core, her practice is built on a simple principle: intellectual property should not merely be protected, it should be structured in a way that enables businesses to grow, compete, and sustain value over the long term.

You can reach out to Nayantara at:
nayantara.malhotra@ostaralegal.com