Anthropic Software, a Belagavi-based tech firm, has cautioned the State and Union governments against entering into formal engagements with California-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC until an ongoing legal dispute over the use of the “Anthropic” brand name is resolved, citing what it describes as “serious risks arising from brand confusion, email misrouting and potential exposure of confidential information.”
Anthropic Software Pvt. Ltd., founded in 2017 in Belagavi, operates through the domain anthropic.in, while Anthropic PBC uses anthropic.com.
Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla, founder and managing director of Anthropic Software, told The Hindu that the similarity in the business name and domains has led to increasing confusion among customers and organisations in India and overseas, particularly after the U.S. company announced its entry into India.
He said his company had received over 700 emails over the past four months that were intended for its namesake in the U.S. and vice versa. He said the concern went beyond missed business enquiries because some of these misdirected communications contained sensitive information.
“Some of the emails have come from government departments, including the police, judiciary and other financially and operationally sensitive departments,” he cautioned, adding that his company had not examined the contents of such emails but considered their misdirection itself a potential security concern.
According to Mr. Mulla, his company has developed an automated email misrouting system to track such messages with minimal human intervention. When an email is identified as being intended for Anthropic PBC, the system automatically alerts and routes it to the designated leadership and data-protection officials, while maintaining logs and following what the company describes as data-minimisation principles. More than 700 such emails have reportedly been redirected through this system, he claimed. “We have also put a clarification on our website stating that the two entities are separate,” Mr Mulla added.
He said the issue had acquired greater significance with the Karnataka government considering engagements involving the U.S.-based Anthropic entity. He added that his company had also urged the State government to take note of the existing brand confusion and potential data-security implications before proceeding with initiatives involving multiple government departments.
“We are urging the government to take note of this. Unless the court verdict comes and these issues are sorted out, the government should pause business proposals with American Anthropic,” Mr Mulla cautioned, arguing that wider government adoption could magnify the consequences of any existing data-security or identification problems.
The Belagavi company has also raised the issue before Indian and U.S. regulatory and cybersecurity agencies. Mr. Mulla said complaints had been submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, besides India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and CERT-In. The company has asked regulators, among other things, to consider the material risks associated with brand confusion and email misrouting in the context of the U.S. company’s proposed public offering.
Published – August 11, 2026 06:00 am IST
