A
- Account of Profits
- An alternative to damages: the claimant takes the profit the infringer made rather than proving its own loss. It suits cases where the defendant plainly earned money but the claimant's loss is hard to quantify. The election is made once.
- Acquiescence
- Standing by while another party infringes, in a way that suggests consent. Mere delay does not defeat an infringement injunction, but years of knowing inaction while the defendant built a business in the open can tip the balance of convenience against interim relief.
- Anton Piller Order
- A search-and-seizure order allowing the claimant's representatives, through a court-appointed commissioner, to enter the defendant's premises and secure infringing goods and records before they can be destroyed. In India it is granted as part of ex parte relief.
B
- Balance of Convenience
- The second limb of the interim injunction test: whether more harm is done by restraining the defendant or by leaving it free to trade until judgment. Where infringement is clear on the face of it, the balance usually favours the right holder.
C
- Caveat
- A notice filed in a court by someone who expects to be sued, entitling them to be heard before any order is made against them. It is why a cease-and-desist letter often ends the prospect of an ex parte injunction, and why urgent cases are filed before any letter is sent.
- Cognizable Offence
- An offence the police may investigate, and arrest for, without a magistrate's order. Trademark counterfeiting and copyright infringement are cognizable; patent and design infringement are not offences at all.
- Commercial Court
- The court that hears commercial disputes, including every intellectual property dispute above the specified value, under a stricter procedure — documents filed with the pleadings, case management timetables, and costs that follow the event.
- Costs Follow the Event
- The rule under the commercial courts regime that the losing party pays the winner's costs, assessed on actual and reasonable figures including counsel's fees. It replaced the old practice of awarding nominal costs, and applies to losing claimants as readily as to defendants.
- Criminal Complaint
- The route to criminal enforcement: either a first information report at the police station with jurisdiction, or a complaint to the magistrate, who can direct an investigation. In practice the right holder does the investigative work and presents a case ready to execute.
- Customs Recordal
- Recording a trademark, copyright, design or geographical indication with Indian Customs so suspected counterfeits can be detained at the border. Patents cannot be recorded — infringement is not something officers can assess at a port.
D
- Delivery Up
- An order that infringing goods, and the materials used to make them, be handed over or destroyed. It accompanies an injunction and stops seized stock returning to the market.
- Dynamic Injunction
- An order blocking rogue websites that lets the right holder add mirror and redirect sites as they appear, on verification, without filing a fresh suit. A 'dynamic-plus' order extends the protection to the claimant's future works from the moment they are released.
E
- Electronic Evidence Certificate
- The certificate required to make screenshots, downloads, emails and messages admissible, given by the person responsible for the device or system that produced them. The Supreme Court has held it mandatory, and the 2024 evidence code carries the requirement forward — so it is prepared when the screenshot is taken, not afterwards.
- Ex Parte Order
- An order made without hearing the defendant, where notice would defeat its purpose — goods or evidence would disappear. The court must record its reasons, the defendant must be served immediately, and it can apply to have the order vacated.
G
- Groundless Threats
- A statutory claim against someone who threatens infringement proceedings without justification. Every one of the trademark, copyright, patent and design statutes provides it, and letters to an alleged infringer's customers are the classic trigger.
I
- Intellectual Property Division
- A dedicated bench of a High Court hearing intellectual property suits, appeals from the registries, and revocation and rectification petitions, with its own rules. Delhi, Madras, Calcutta and Himachal Pradesh have one; Bombay and Karnataka have been preparing rules.
- Interim Injunction
- The order restraining the defendant while the suit is pending. Because a suit to judgment takes years, it is effectively where an Indian intellectual property case is decided, and both sides put their strongest material in at that stage.
- Irreparable Harm
- The third limb of the interim injunction test: harm that damages at the end of the case could not put right — lost market position, damaged reputation, a launch that cannot be undone.
J
- John Doe Order
- An injunction against unidentified persons, called an 'Ashok Kumar' order in Indian practice, used where infringers cannot be named in advance — street counterfeiters, pirate operators, whoever registers the next lookalike domain. It can be enforced against anyone found doing the restrained act.
L
- Local Commissioner
- An advocate appointed by the court to visit the defendant's premises, usually without notice, to inventory and seize infringing goods and records and report back. The report is often the decisive evidence of the scale of the infringement.
N
- Non-Starter Report
- The record issued when the opposite party does not appear for pre-institution mediation after notice. It is filed with the plaint and satisfies the requirement, which is to attempt mediation rather than to succeed.
P
- Pre-Institution Mediation
- The attempt at mediation that a commercial suit must make before it is filed, unless it contemplates urgent interim relief. The Supreme Court has held the requirement mandatory, and a plaint filed without it is liable to be rejected.
- Prima Facie Case
- The first limb of the interim injunction test: not that the claimant will win, but that there is a serious question to try and the material favours it. A registration supports it; the defendant's answer is to attack validity.
- Punitive Damages
- Damages awarded to punish rather than compensate, for deliberate counterfeiting, repeat infringement or breach of court orders. The Delhi High Court reined in the practice in 2014 — they must now rest on stated principle and be proportionate, not follow automatically from a defendant's absence.
R
- Registrar's Opinion
- The opinion on the facts that a police officer must obtain from the Registrar of Trade Marks, and abide by, before searching and seizing for a trademark offence. It is the step that takes time, and is usually arranged by the complainant in advance.
- Rogue Website
- A site whose primary purpose is infringement, judged by the volume of infringing content, concealment of the operators' identity and disregard of notices. Establishing that a site is rogue is what unlocks a blocking and dynamic injunction.
S
- Specified Value
- The threshold above which a dispute is a commercial dispute and follows the commercial courts procedure — ₹3 lakh. Every intellectual property suit of any substance clears it.
- Statement of Truth
- The verification a party signs with its pleading in a commercial suit, confirming the pleading and the list of documents. It goes with the rule that all documents in a party's possession are filed with the pleading; anything left out generally cannot be used later.
- Suspension of Clearance
- The step Customs takes when a consignment is suspected of infringing a recorded right. The right holder must join the proceedings within a short window — ten working days, three for perishables — or the goods are released.
T
- Trap Purchase
- A documented purchase of the infringing product by an investigator or employee, with the invoice, packaging and payment record preserved. It is the standard proof that the defendant is actually selling, and it is made before any takedown removes the evidence.
W
- Written Statement
- The defendant's answer in a commercial suit, filed with all its documents. The outer limit is one hundred and twenty days from service, and it is absolute — the right to file is forfeited after it.