How Zacco and S&H Partners collaborate in the Indian market

19 November 2025

This case study sheds some light on how our network of foreign agents ensures we have Zacco’s clients and their intellectual property portfolios covered almost everywhere across the globe. We have picked S&H Partners as an example, as they represent what we call a preferred partner. As such they have been vetted thoroughly to cooperate with Zacco. S&H Partners represent our clients’ interests in India.

While growth is slowing down globally, India remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world, an attractive consumer market as well as the home of a highly qualified and motivated workforce. In India, you can find senior patent attorneys qualified in certain fields of technology that are in short supply in Europe, such as software, AI, sensor technology and telecommunications. Many clients demand access to these experts, and as a European IP firm, Zacco was an early adopter of an international prosecution setup that included Indian talent.

Eight years ago, Zacco started establishing operations in India aimed at international portfolio management, prosecution and outsourcing. Today, Zacco has a large number of colleagues located at offices in Delhi, Bangalore and Coimbatore performing international IP portfolio handling and management. They support clients directly in areas such as patent illustrations, searches, recordals, annuities/renewals and not the least with global patent filings and prosecution.

A trusted partner with high quality standards

The setup is a synergistic partnership where S&H Partners represents our clients’ interests in India. This co-operation makes it possible to navigate the patent system’s complexities in an effective way. Together, they have skilfully overcome many prosecution hurdles to secure robust protection for our clients. Samuel Niranjan, Founder Partner of S&H Partners, says, ‘Our long-standing relationship is a testament to our role as Zacco’s trusted partner, dedicated to mirroring their global quality standards and delivering premier IP protection in India.’

One of Zacco’s multinational clients in the telecommunication area has a far-reaching and cost-effective portfolio outsourcing agreement in place. The agreement covers a lot of administrative heavy lifting as Zacco’s India team independently handles their patent filing and prosecution within several large jurisdictions, backed up by European colleagues for their jurisdictions. Additionally, this client is represented by S&H Partners in India, as well as by other preferred agents in the US and in China. The prosecution outsourcing setup is a tailored one and consequently, it will vary between clients. Another client from the mining sector has outsourced their global filing and prosecution in several jurisdictions (e.g. US, CN, AU, CA, Chile, Peru and Mexico) to Zacco’s India team, while staying in control of all office actions and handling their European matters themselves.

Both parties, Zacco and S&H Partners, appreciate the professionalism and the mutual trust that underpins this long-standing relationship. Over the past eight years, many strong, personal relationships have been developed between Zacco and S&H Partners colleagues, based on a shared dedication to the highest professional standards. Whenever it seems beneficial, Zacco and S&H Partners will attend international conferences together and arrange joint client or agent meetings.

Advantageous IP protection setup in India for Zacco’s clients

Zacco clients appreciate the flexible setup, the reliability and the single point of contact we can provide for international businesses seeking to enter or to develop their presence in the India market. In our mature cross-border approach, we find that portfolio prosecution can be delivered and even outsourced in a cost-efficient way that is scalable to the level of control a client wants to exert. We can handle the entire patent lifecycle from PCT national phase entry to grant across all major jurisdictions.

(Zacco Leadership Team members and S&H Partners celebrate anniversary)