INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Pravin Anand, Achuthan Sreekumar and Rohil Bansal, Anand and Anand
• The defendant(s) needs to be identified. • The rights-holder should collect all relevant documents, such as contracts, correspond - ence with the defendant, etc, to show that the information in question can be considered “trade secrets” . • Evidence to show violation or misappropria - tion by the defendant needs to be tendered. • One also has the option of filing a case against an unknown defendant (ie, “John Doe” ) and subsequently adding a party once their identity is ascertained through discovery. • If documents in support of the plaintiff’s case are to be taken from various other parties, appropriate requests seeking interrogatories need to be filed. • If the details are to be taken from intermedi - aries such as domain registrars, banks, etc, they can be made pro forma for the defend - ant to the suit. • The rights-holder should have an authorised representative in India to sign and file papers on their behalf. Such an authorisation can be made by way of a simple power of attorney. 5.2 Limitations Period A claim against a defendant would accrue on knowledge 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 Ben - gal Waterproof v Bombay Waterproof; 1997 (17) PTC 98 (SC), the Supreme Court upheld the con - cept of recurring cause of action in relation to a trade mark dispute, and held that each time a defendant deals in an infringing product bearing
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 Law- suit . 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 defendant resides, carries on busi - ness 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 Commercial Courts, timelines must be strictly followed for expeditious disposal of a commercial suit. If precisely followed, a com - mercial suit can be wrapped up as per the fol - lowing 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 arguments; (f) fixing of date for final arguments; and (g) fixing of schedule for final arguments.
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