Under Indian Laws statutory protections is available to both registered marks as well as unregistered marks. In respect of trademarks Indian law provides both civil as well as criminal remedies for taking action against any infringement of a trademark

A suit for infringement of trademark has to be filed in a District court or High court (depending upon pecuniary jurisdiction) within whose territorial jurisdiction the cause of action has arisen.

1. Opposition (before the Registrar)- Opposition can only be done after publication of the trademark and within 3 months of date of availability of Journal. One month extension is available if sought before the expiry of 3 months time
2. Cancellation (before the Registrar as well as High Court)- Cancellation on the ground of non-use for a period of 5 years and 3 months and proof of intention on part of the registered proprietor not to use the trademark at the filing date and non-use till the cancellation petition

Under common laws, the proprietor of a trade mark, whether registered or unregistered, may sue for passing off in respect of any trade mark used by defendant that is identical with or deceptively similar to his trade mark. The registered proprietor also has the remedy to take infringement action

1. Injunction- Ex parte/ permanent
2. Damages
3. Anton Pillar Order
4. Seizure of goods
5. Rendition of accounts

Besides Civil remedies, the proprietor of the trademark as well as licensed users also have the option to initiate criminal prosecution against the infringers etc. Following acts have been recognised as offences, against which a criminal complaint can be registered

1. Falsifying a Trade Mark
2. Falsely applying a Trade Mark
3. Making or possessing instruments for falsifying a Trade Mark
4. Applying false trade description
5. Applying false indication of country of origin
6. Tampering with an indication of origin already applied to goods
7. Selling goods or possessing or exposing for sale of goods falsely marked
8. Falsely representing a trade mark as registered
9. Improperly describing a place of business as connected with the Trade Marks Office
10. Falsification of entries in the Register

Indian Customs Act, 1962 provides for confiscation of imported goods bearing counterfeit marks if upon a representation made to Chief Customs Officer, he has reasons to believe that the alleged goods bear a false/ counterfeit Trade Mark. The Chief Customs Officer may require the importer of the goods or his agent to produce any documents in their possession relating to said goods along with information as to the name and address of Consignor as well as importer of said goods and may initiate proper action for non compliance or offence.

Trans-border reputation of trademarks is well recognised and accepted in India even if said mark is not registered in India

Patent infringement proceedings can only be initiated after Grant of patent in India but it may include claim retrospectively from the date of publication of Patent in Indian Patent Journal subject to law of limitation. Under the Limitation law does not allow action/suits in respect of matter where cause of action had arisen more than three years from the date of suit

A suit for infringement of Patent has to be filed in a District court or High court (depending upon pecuniary jurisdiction) within whose territorial jurisdiction the cause of action has arisen. Declaratory suits as to Patent Rights are also to be filed before District Court or High Court. However, as soon as a counter claim for revocation of patent is filed against the suit for infringement of patent, only high court has the jurisdiction of entertain the matter and the matter has to be transferred to High Court for decision

1. Making
2. Using
3. Selling
4. Distributing
5. Importing
6. Offering anyone of the above

The onus of establishing the infringement is on the plaintiff. However, in case of patent involving a process for obtaining a product where the plaintiff first establishes that the products obtained are identical, the court may shift onus on the defendant

The Court may also allow interim injunction against the infringer

The following defences are available in India as a defence in Patent Infringement:

1. Any of the grounds under which Patent can be revoked
2. By govt of India or for Govt. of India for its own use
3. Experiment or research
4. Imparting instructions to pupils
5. For Patent in respect of Medicine or drug, for its own use of Govt. of India, for distribution in Govt. Dispensary and hospitals or by gazette notifications to other dispensaries, hospitals and medical institutions

India is a member of the Berne Convention and TRIPS, therefore owner of copyright from another member country will get same copyright protection in India. However, the duration of copyright shall not exceed the original duration in the member country

Copyright in a work is deemed to be infringed when any person, without a license granted by the owner of the copyright does anything, the exclusive right to do which is by the Act conferred upon the owner of the copyright

The following acts if done or authorised to be done by someone else, without consent or permission of the copyright owner, are considered as infringement of copyright:

1. Reproducing the work in any material form
2. Issuing copies of the work to the public not being copies already in circulation
3. Including the work in any cinematographic film
4. Making an adaptation of the work
5. Doing any of the acts specified at (i) to (iii) above in relation to adaptation of work
6. Communicating the work to the public, if aware that such act shall amount to infringement of copyright
7. Making, selling, letting on hire, distributing, importing or holding trade exhibits in public of infringed work

A suit for infringement of copyright has to be filed in a District court or High court (depending upon pecuniary jurisdiction) within whose territorial jurisdiction the cause of action has arisen.

One of the surest test to determine whether or not there has been a violation of copyright is to see if the trader, spectator, or the viewer after having read or seen both the works would be clearly of the opinion and get an unmistakable impression that the subsequent work appears to be a copy of the first.

Registrar of Copyright has the power to ban import of infringing copies into India and delivery of infringing copies of copyright work confiscated earlier from infringer to the owner of the copyright on an application made by the owner of copyright or his duly authorized agent

The owner of the copyright has the following remedies against infringement

1. Injunction- Ex parte/ permanent
2. Damages
3. Anton Pillar Order
4. Seizure of goods
5. Rendition of accounts

Enforcement procedure for industrial design is same as for Copyright as Statute recognises Design as copyright in articles.

A suit for piracy of design has to be filed in a District court within whose territorial jurisdiction the cause of action has arisen. However, as soon as any ground as to cancellation of design is taken in said suit or any other proceedings, only high court has the jurisdiction of entertain the matter and the matter has to be transferred to High Court for decision

Following acts without consent or license from the registered proprietor amount to piracy of registered design:

1. Apply or cause of apply to any article in any class in which design is registered, the design or fraudulent or obvious intimation thereof for sale
2. Import any article in any class in which design is registered, the design or fraudulent or obvious intimation thereof
3. Knowingly publish or expose or cause of publish or expose for sale an article in any class in which design is registered where design or fraudulent or obvious intimation thereof has been applied

For any piracy of registered design the defendant has to pay sum up to Rs. 25,000 towards the contravention. However maximum damages allowed are Rs. 50,000 in respect of a single design

Besides awarding the damages the proprietor may also seek injunction against repetition of contravention.

The defences available for defence in piracy of design is are any of the grounds under which design can be cancelled.