INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Pravin Anand and Rohil Bansal, Anand and Anand
5.2 Limitations Period A claim against a defendant would accrue on knowl - edge of said wrongdoing by the plaintiff. The limitations period in a straightforward civil case involving trade secrets is three years from the date on which the cause of action arose. The limitations period for suits of tortious claims is one year. In certain cases, the claimant can show that the cause of action is recurring in nature. In Bengal Waterproof v Bombay Waterproof 1997 (17) PTC 98 (SC), the Supreme Court upheld the concept of recurring cause of action in relation to a trade mark dispute, and held that each time a defendant deals in an infringing product bear - ing the plaintiff’s mark they commit a recurring act of breach, giving a recurring and fresh cause of action at each transaction entered into by the defendant. 5.3 Initiating a Lawsuit Please refer to 5.1 Prerequisites to Filing a Lawsuit . 5.4 Jurisdiction of the Courts As per Section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure, a civil dispute concerning a trade secrets claim can be brought before any civil court in India where the defend - ant resides, carries on business or personally works for gain, or where the cause of action wholly or partly arose. Matters involving trade secrets would fall within the definition of “commercial disputes” under Section 2 (c) of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Before the Com - mercial Courts, timelines must be strictly followed for expeditious disposal of a commercial suit. If precisely followed, a commercial suit can be wrapped up as per the following timeline. • Filing of suit. • 30 days – plaintiff’s additional documents. • 120 days – written statement/reply from defendant. • 60 days – inspection. • 15 days – admission denial. • 30 days – case management hearing: (a) issues are framed; (b) list of witnesses is filed; (c) fixing of schedule for simultaneous filing of evidence; (d) fixing of schedule for trial;
(e) fixing of schedule to file written note of argu - ments; (f) fixing of date for final arguments; and (g) fixing of schedule for final arguments. • 180 days – closing of arguments. • 90 days – judgment. A criminal case concerning theft of trade secrets may also contain ingredients of criminal breach of trust, cheating, causing wrongful gain/loss and using IT resources for cheating, and can be filed before the police or the magistrate within whose jurisdiction the alleged illegal act wholly or partly took place, or where the accused person is located. 5.5 Initial Pleading Standards The following are the main ingredients of a trade secrets claim: • who the claimant is; • the claimant’s ownership of the confidential infor - mation; • evidence to show that the information is confidential/a trade secret; • who the defendant is; • evidence of misappropriation; and • evidence of damage costs. In a civil action, Order VI Rule 2 stipulates that every pleading must contain a concise statement of the material facts on which the party relies for their claim or defence. The evidence can be attached separately. Also, a civil action may be filed based on information and belief supported by an affidavit. However, after initiation of the proceeding and discovery, if no evi - dence is gathered in support of the plaintiff’s claim, the suit may be dismissed for want of cause of action against the defendants. In Church of Christ v Ponniamman AIR 2012 SC 3912, the Supreme Court held that cause of action is a bun - dle of facts which, taken with the law applicable to them, gives the plaintiff the right to relief against the defendant. Every fact that is necessary for the plaintiff to prove the claims made by them against the defend - ant and to enable the plaintiff to obtain a final decree should be set out in clear terms.
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