HC stays transfer of IPR suits of value less than Rs.1 crore

The Delhi High Court on Thursday stayed, till January 19, the transfer of cases relating to intellectual property rights which have value less than Rs.one crore, to subordinate courts.

A division bench of Justice G.S. Sistani and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal stayed the transfer of cases which deal with issues under the Designs Act 2000, the Patents Act 1970, the Copyright Act 1957, the Trade Marks Act 1999 and the Geographical Indications Of Goods (Registration And Protection) Act, 1999.

The court passed an interim order on a plea by by the Asian Patent Association challenging the November 24 office order of the high court by which the cases of value less than Rs one crore were to be transferred and posted the matter for January 19, 2016 for hearing.

According to the office order, even cases whose value was more than Rs.1 crore but less than Rs.2 crore and which were not commercial disputes were also to be transferred to the jurisdictional subordinate courts. Cases in which final judgements have been reserved have been exempted from transfer.